


Promoted

by Lunabrit



Category: Cyberpunk 2077 (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Developing Relationship, Dubious Consent, F/M, I'm Bad At Tagging, No Romance, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pre-Canon, Slow Burn, To Be Edited, definitely not a romantic one, if you can call it a relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-24
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:14:29
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 16
Words: 51,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28278966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lunabrit/pseuds/Lunabrit
Summary: She wasn't always involved in the Corpo life, but when an opportunity for growth presented itself she embraced it. Now, while trying to fit into her new role, another opportunity arises. Does she embrace it as well, or does she even have a choice?Being translated to Russian by the most wonderful Toxic Dachshund (Токсичная Такса) at https://ficbook.net/readfic/10297501#part_content <3
Relationships: Adam Smasher/Female V, Adam Smasher/V
Comments: 484
Kudos: 388





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hastily written, then decided I wanted to add more... then it became a whole new monster. So, apologies for any errors and the shorter length, but I really wanted to get a first part out.

Wiping her hands clean with a grease rag, V stepped back to admire her handiwork. Other than the polished new-metal look, you could hardly tell which armor plates she had just replaced on the mech that stood in front of her; the ones that covered part of the ammo belt housing that she also had to repair. Whoever tried to take this thing on knew how to disarm it, but if the lack of damage done to the other arm was anything to go by, poor fucker didn’t last long. After a final once-over she shoved the rag into one of the back pockets of her jumpsuit, grabbed the serial number and parts list, and headed for the Lookout to log the repairs.

The Lookout, dubbed as such by the other engineers in the sector, was a two-floor room in the center of the mech bay, the top floor of which had the supervisors situated with a full three hundred sixty-degree view of the floor while the break area and bathrooms were underneath.

V ascended the stairs along the outside of the structure and made her way past two other guys on their way out the door, ignoring their irritated huffs as she squeezed by. She found a familiar figure slouched in his chair, leaning heavily onto one side and shaking some papers in his opposite hand at no one in particular.

“...and those units are supposed to be ready to send out first thing tomorrow morning. Are _you_ staying late to make sure that it gets done?”

Hank. He was her mentor of sorts, and her connection that landed her this job in the first place some odd months ago. Back then she didn’t remember ever seeing him this stressed out, now it seemed like a constant state of being for him.

She leaned her hip against his desk, crossing her arms while she waited for his call to end. He flashed her a side eye glance before giving a quick ‘come here’ motion and tapping his desk for her to leave the repair information. V obliged, but waited another second before making a move to leave.

“Yea, you better hope so.” Hank ended the conversation there, rubbing his eyes to erase the remaining traces of the holo-view from his vision before finally facing V. “Sorry ‘bout that. Four ready to clear?”

“Yup, she's ready to party,” she replied with a cheeky smile before leaning past him to hit a switch on the dashboard in front of him.

His spot in the Lookout wasn't coincidental, it had a clear view of the last five workstations down the north-west side of the bay; workstations he was in charge of, including hers. The switch she flipped lit up the greenlight over her station, and an operator went over to retrieve and guide the mech she had finished working on over to storage.

Hank leaned back in his chair with an exaggerated exhale and V couldn't help the roll of her eyes. “What’s biting your ass?”

“Fucking Elliot, that’s what. He's had all afternoon to finish five pre send-off inspections and what does he do?!”

V can only offer a knowing shrug. In the short time she's been there it was evident that _everyone_ knew Elliot was the slowest. “Dick around, twiddle his thumbs, whatever that other saying of yours is?”

“Kickin’ rocks.” He shook his head. “What’s your over-time looking like?”

“C’mon Hank, I can't this week-” she started, but the buzzing alarm and flashing yellow lights from the freight elevator caught both their attention.

The freight elevator, used for moving the mechs throughout the sublevels and up to the ground floor, was on the east end of the room, while the service elevator for employees was on the west end, closer to her station. With just thirty minutes before quitting time, she wondered who in the hell was trying to bring something in for work.

Her question was answered shortly after the heavy metal doors parted and Adam Smasher himself stepped off the lift. He paused to take a quick look around the bay, which caused her to do the same. She could feel the color drain from her face when she realized that other than twelve, across the floor and further down from the elevator, hers was the only open station.

There was no hesitation when V leaned back across Hank to flip the switch to her station back off. “I'll take the rest of the inspections, open up two.”

“Are you serious? And throw Elliot into the _literal_ meatgrinder?” Hank flipped her switch back on, but not before shooting her a disbelieving look.

“Yes,” V said with finality before flipping the switch back off. She offered a parting glare as she straightened up and left the Lookout praying Hank would spare her just one more time.

Smasher definitely wasn’t what she would call a frequent flyer, but he probably came in about once a month for maintenance, repairs, or upgrades if needed (or desired). The couple of times she has seen him she's been lucky enough to have been busy when he arrived, but that didn't keep her from observing from a safe distance. She was foolish in the beginning to think the rumors were exaggerated, he really was just as cold and ruthless as they made him out to be.

V hesitated just a split second as he walked by, not realizing she was holding her breath until he made it past her station on his way to two, green light and all. With a quick glance over her shoulder, she caught Hank’s gaze from his perch before quickly making her way to her station, two new mechs marching their way over.

It was maybe two hours later when she finished the inspections. All of the other guys had quit for the night, excluding Elliot of course, who was still working on what looked like the hydraulics in Smasher’s right leg. She refrained from casting any glances their direction on her way to the empty Lookout to drop off the logs, but she couldn't help it as she walked by to get to the service elevator.

Smasher stood there as unmoving as any of the other mechs, which made it more than a little unnerving when his head tilted ever so slightly in her direction. She quickly shifted her gaze to Elliot, who got up from his crouched position and went over to his bench for something, and threw up a quick wave. “G’night El.”

He flashed a half-assed smile before turning back to the cyborg and she had to admit she felt a twinge of guilt for hanging him out to dry. Hank seemed to be confident in her abilities so far but she didn't think she was ready for _that_ just yet. With a final glance over her shoulder, she entered the elevator and took it up to the first sublevel where she changed into her clean Arasaka jumpsuit, punched out, and headed for the garage.

She was always grateful for the short trip to her downtown apartment; much shorter than the one to Arroyo. Sure, she got shit for “selling out” to the Corpo scum and most of her past crew had cut ties with her, but when it provided you with the means to house and feed yourself who wouldn’t take it? She finally got tired of scraping the bottom of the barrel.

The next couple of weeks passed fairly uneventful. Elliot seemed bitter towards her at first for leaving him to Smasher but he quickly lightened up after she offered to help with another project to make up for it. He wasn't half bad, just did a piss poor job of prioritizing his work.

Another week came and went, and she found herself up in the Lookout one Friday evening shootin’ the shit with Hank right before quitting time.

“Even with as much as you’ve been helping him lately, I think management has made up their mind,” he said with a sort of solemn tone.

The higher-ups must’ve taken notice to Elliot’s logs and didn't like what they were seeing. “I mean, it sucks but...”

“Yea, he’s a good guy though.”

All she could do was shrug. “Sure, but that's not what makes them their money.”

Hank nodded in agreement before straightening up to answer a holo-call. It seemed pretty urgent so, thinking it'd take a while and that would be the end of their conversation, she straightened up to leave.

He held up a finger for her to hold on. “Yes, of course. Sorry, someone will be down in just a second.”

V waited, raising an eyebrow when his eyes cleared and focused on her. “Well? What was that about?”

After a couple beats of silence, he took a deep breath. “You have one more waiting for you. Last one for the night.”

She rolled her eyes and sighed. “Repair, inspection... what?”

“Not sure.”

She cocked her head at that. “The fuck aren’t you sure about-” she leaned into the window to find her station...

And saw Adam Smasher standing there waiting.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for the comments they seriously gave me LIFE !!!

Her hands shot up to her head, pulling her cap forward until the bill covered her eyes. “Oh, for fuck’s sake,” she sighed, taking a couple steps towards the door. “When did he even get here? I didn't hear-” 

“I don’t know, but you probably shouldn’t make him wait any longer.” V let out a groan at that, untying the sleeves of her jumpsuit from around her waist and shrugging back into them. “You'll be fine,” Hank assured her, “Just go down there and do what he asks. You know what you’re doing.” 

She straightened out her hat and fixed her ponytail. With a final over-exaggerated grimace that had Hank shaking his head, she left the Lookout and made a beeline for her station. 

_It’s fine, it’s fine,_ she repeated in her head as she approached the hulking cyborg. _It’ll be just like working on any of the other mechs..._

“About fucking time.” His voice was even harsher up close and it made her chest tighten. 

_… except it hates everything about you._

“Sorry,” she offered flatly, a little quieter than she intended. 

V could feel his stare follow her as she went over to the workbench. Her hand trembled slightly as she reached for the diagnostics tool so she grabbed her coffee from that morning instead, hoping the whiskey she added to it would be settled at the top by now before she took a couple good swigs. 

She grabbed the tool and turned back to find him still glaring at her. “Can you jack in and-” 

“Just fix the busted plates and be done with it.” The distortion in his voice made it sound like he growled every word and she hated how much she could feel it in her bones. 

“Right,” she muttered. He could probably run his own diagnostics, of course, or at least communicate if something internal felt off unlike the mechs. Switching optic modes, she scanned his frame to mark which plates were the weakest and needed replacing. 

His right side was definitely the main focus with the shoulder plate taking the brunt of the damage. A few of the hoses in his arm looked like they may need to be taken care of as well, but she wouldn’t know until she started taking him apart. Though as far as parts went, she doubted she had anything specific to him at her station. They kept a general stock of the smaller, more common items they might need on a daily basis for the mechs, but other stuff like the large armor plating all came from manufacturing below them. 

With an initial scan and part list done, she made a quick call while she calibrated the cyberware in her left hand for the specific bits she needed. “Hey Hank, so, as far as these armor plates go...” 

“Most of his stuff is made as needed, send me what you got and I’ll have the guys downstairs start cutting it,” he offered. 

“Oh, ok,” she paused, the bit that replaced her pointer and middle fingers whirring as she tested the torque. “What about hoses? Sleeves?” 

“Just use the standard stuff.” 

“Preem. Thanks Hank.” V cut the call but a quick peek up at the Lookout showed Hank watching from the window, arms crossed. She flashed a weak smile when he gave her a thumbs up then turned to face Smasher, who was still glaring at her. At least it felt like it should be a glare, hard to tell with the optics and all. 

“Thought you looked like fresh meat. Lucky me,” he sneered as he stepped further into the workstation, stopping in front of the raised catwalk they used for working on the higher parts of the mechs. 

She was thankful he at least made that easy on her, otherwise she had no hope of reaching the top parts of his shoulder. “Lucky _you_ ,” she muttered into her coffee cup as she gulped the rest of it down before getting up on the platform and getting to work. 

As much as she psyched herself out, it was easy to get into a rhythm once she started; there were just the large layered plates on his shoulder, some casings, and a couple pieces around his forearm before she was left with access to the cables and hoses in his arm. Those repairs were simple enough too, and she even got most of it done before they brought up the pieces that had to be cut for her. She moved around him as she needed but for the most part she was able to sit on the catwalk, which put her at the perfect height to work on his upper arm, or the lower steps when she had to work on his leg. 

V secured the last of the plating on his leg, wiped off all the fingerprints and stood with her hands on her hips. “Okay, think that should do it. How's everything feel?” 

He stretched out his arm, bending and twisting it, testing the tension in the hoses she replaced she guessed. “It’ll do.” 

And... that was it. He stepped away from her station and turned to head back towards the freight elevator. 

She watched him walk away for another couple seconds before letting out a puff of air. “You’re welcome,” she muttered before turning back to straighten up her workbench. 

Shrugging out of the top of her jumpsuit so she could tie the arms around her waist again, she untucked her t-shirt and made her way to the Lookout. A quick look around showed a good handful of the guys still finishing up their tasks and following suit. Must’ve been crunch time before the weekend. She was further surprised to see Hank still at his desk though, which was when she finally bothered to look at a clock. 

_Huh._

“Smasher light a fire under your ass or what?” Hank joked, pausing to look up from entering the logs into the system. 

“You mean he doesn’t do that to everyone?” she asked sarcastically. 

“Ask Elliot.” 

She scoffed at that, letting some of the other guys by that came in to drop off logs. “I mean, it felt longer than just an hour. It was simple shit though.” 

“See, I told you you’d be fine. Should make the next time even easier.” 

V sputtered for a second. “Uh, yea- no. I'm ok if there's no next time.” She didn’t like the face he was making. 

“Not up to any of us, so...” he shrugged and turned to his computer to finish entering the logs from the rest of the crew. He was right though; Smasher just goes to the first available station and no one’s dumb enough to protest. 

She took that opportunity to make her escape; she wasn't working overtime and actually had the weekend off so she was going to enjoy it. Even let Jackie convince her to go out to Lizzie’s. Though if she were completely honest, she really just wanted to tell him she got to work on Smasher; he would find it way more exciting than she did. 

“No way!” He slams both hands on the table so hard it knocks a couple empty shot glasses over. 

V laughs as she scrambles to right the glasses again. “Shhh, jeez Jackie take it easy.” 

He leans heavily onto the small bar table. “That fucker’s an actual legend V” he tries to whisper, “a bleak one... but still!” 

“Yea, yea, I get that,” she nodded along in agreement, paused, then shook her head frantically, “but it was absolutely terrifying.” 

Jackie waved over one of the cocktail waitresses for another round. “Oh, I believe it hermana, but what else?!” 

V shrugged and accepted her shot when it arrived. “I dunno, the rumors are pretty spot on. No pleasantries, no bullshit. I felt like one wrong move would’ve landed me through a wall.” 

His boisterous laugh faded into a sigh. “Yea, probably.” He grabbed his shot and raised it towards her. “To surviving the legend.” 

She snorted, raising her glass and clinking it with his. “For now.” 

They tossed back their drinks and spent the rest of the night bullshitting, dancing, and catching up on other things. Like it usually does though, the evening ended too quickly and the weekend flew by right behind it. Before she knew it, she was exiting the service elevator ready to take on another week. 

At some point over the next couple of weeks V realized she stopped seeing Elliot and started noticing a new face over in bay two. Hank said his name was Masato and he sort of recruited him like he did her; scouted him from one of the remaining factories in Arroyo. She thought about approaching him when they stopped for break one day to introduce herself, but she was swamped from the morning and still working on a certain mech that was giving her trouble by the time everyone wrapped up and got back to work. 

“V, call it and get something to eat. It’ll still be here when you get back,” Hank persisted for the second time, but she wouldn't have it. 

She was up and down off the top of the damn thing for a good thirty minutes alone just trying to pry the casing up after several other failed approaches. Something with the ocular mechanism, she wasn’t sure yet, but she couldn't get to it from the front opening and it was like someone dropped a car on top of it and crumpled the edges of the plating together. It was really starting to irritate her, so she was lost in thought sitting on top of the mech when a voice made her heart jump into her throat.

“They pay you to just sit on your ass?” 

V’s head shot up to see Smasher standing just a few steps in front of the mech. “I, uh...” she floundered, her earlier irritation quickly being snuffed out. “I mean, as long as the job gets done, right?” 

_That was dumb. Stupid. Why would you say that to him?_

To her surprise, he simply stepped to the side like he was getting out of the way. “Doesn't look like it is.” 

“Ok, well, not this one, but...” her voice trailed off as her gaze dropped back down to the crumpled metal, almost ready to give it another go until Hank’s call popped up on the holo. “Hank, hey...” 

“You, uh, want to make some room for him?” he asked in a way that told her that’s exactly what she wanted to do. 

Confusion flashed across her face before realization hit and she scrambled to her feet. “Yea! Uh,” she spun around to get a layout of the floor, finding there were actually a couple other stations available. She’d already started on this one for Hank though, so she figured she should keep it in his sector. “Can you send this one over to one to get finished?” 

“Good call, kid.” 

“Thanks, I'll fling you a new list in a sec,” she said as she hopped off the mech and back onto the catwalk so an operator could escort it to the new station. 

She wasn’t sure exactly what sound he made at her, it mostly just seemed like static, but it was definitely dismissive. “Thought I was going to have to tell you how to do your job too.” 

_You could have gone to any of the other stations that were open._

V wouldn’t dare say it aloud, even pressed her lips into a hard line to make sure of it as she calibrated her cyberware and scanned his frame. Minor damages, nothing worse than last time, though the piece over his left shoulder was an annoying reach from the catwalk’s steps but she wasn’t about to ask him to move, and the heavy chest plate was starting to get hairline cracks on the left side but he wouldn't let her replace it yet. 

After securing the last couple bolts in his shoulder she wiped off the fingerprints and stepped down to the floor to give his scan a final once over. “M’kay. Everything feel alright?” He simply made a motion like he was rolling his shoulder, checking for clearance she figured, before stepping out of her workstation. She kept her back to him as he left, muttering another soft ‘you’re welcome’. 

He didn’t make it as far as she expected, or his hearing was much better than she thought because of course it was. “You think I’d thank you for making me wait?” 

“What?” She couldn’t stop the utter disbelief in her tone before it escaped her, and turned just in time to watch her impending doom march right back up to her. She took a couple instinctive steps back until the workbench wouldn't let her go any further and prepared for the worst. 

Stopping right in front of her, he towered above her so she had to crane her neck back to meet his gaze. “Next time, I won't be so patient.” 

He stayed there another few moments to let that sink in before finally backing off to turn and leave, leaving V some room to finally breathe again and ease the aching in her chest. 

It took her a couple minutes but she finally took a deep breath and straightened up, collected her logs from the morning and headed up to the Lookout. Hank was already turned around in his chair waiting; hand out with some weird cross between pity and a sucks-to-be-you expression. She avoided his hand completely and dropped the papers on his desk. "I'm taking my lunch now."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHEW. So, I was working on this at work and then OneDrive locked me out of my personal vault where I had this hiding, so I had to go back and RE-edit an even older draft :)))


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I woke up to the comments on the last chapter and you guys really freaking made my day, thank you so much you have no idea how much it means to me <3

As much as she wanted to disappear and never return from her lunch break, V found herself exiting the service elevator back onto the floor an hour later. She passed by station one where it looked like Felix was able to get the large protective casing off the top of the mech, which was probably what was laying in pieces arounds it’s feet. Two and three looked to be finishing off inspections, but beyond them her station sat empty. A quick survey of the floor showed hers to be the only station that was which could only mean one thing; she was fired. Or Hank just needed to see her, but she wasn’t sure which one she preferred at the moment. 

She entered the Lookout and made her way to Hank’s desk where he sat upright in his chair, nose-to-screen as he typed away at something. When he didn’t acknowledge her, she sat herself up on the edge of his desk. “Hank.” 

“V,” he replied, eyes never leaving the screen. “How was your lunch?” 

“Fine. What do you need?” 

He finally broke away from his computer to lean back in his chair and look up at her. “Just wanted to touch base with you.” 

V sighed. “I’m fine, I just want to get back to work.” 

“I know, I know, but it’s more than that.” He sat up in his chair when she gave him a quizzical look. “I just want to make sure you know what to expect now.” 

Her brows furrowed at that. “Expect now that what?” 

“Now that... you’ll be the only one Smasher comes to for getting work done.” 

Their stare-off lasted for what felt like ages. “Even after _that?_ ” she questioned, flailing her arm in the general direction of her workstation in reference to the events prior to her lunch break. 

Hank nodded solemnly. “Especially after that.” 

“Unbelievable.” She pushed herself off his desk and paced behind his chair. “But why _me?_ ” 

“You get shit done V. You’re one of the fastest on the floor,” he offered genuinely. 

“But I’m not _the_ fastest, why doesn’t he just go to Felix or Richter?” 

He kind of tilted his head side to side, like he was weighing whether to tell her or not. “He has, it was before you started, but there were... incidents- but, nothing terribly bad!” he quickly added, hands raising in defense when her eyebrows shot up. 

“I would call what happened before lunch an ‘incident’ Hank,” she hissed, taking a pause in her pacing. 

Hank finally stood up but V stood her ground, arms crossed. “I know you can handle it V, just be smart about it. I’ve seen you at the factory remember? I know you’re capable.” 

The factories in Arroyo were rough to say the least, what little remained that weren’t fully automated. The conditions were less than ideal and the coworkers even less so, but if you had a problem the higher ups just saw it as an easier solution to replace you. There were plenty more people in Arroyo looking for work anyway. So, that left you with keeping your mouth shut and putting up with it or dealing with the issue on your own. 

At first she thought she could put up with it, just put her head down and get the jobs done, but then there's those assholes that don’t like to be ignored and when they started getting in the way of her getting the job done well, that’s when she learned how to deal with them. However, there was only one _tiny_ difference between every asshole she’s had to deal with in the factory and the one she’s dealing with now. 

They weren’t Adam fucking Smasher. 

“It’s not the same,” she snapped, but she was deflating. She knew this wasn’t going to get anywhere. 

He grabbed her shoulders and jostled her a little bit. “I know, that’s why I said be smart about it.” 

V rolled her eyes. “So, what changes then?” 

“Nothing much,” he offers, going back to sit in his chair. “Your normal day-to-day will be the same, but I managed to find someone that can give me a heads up when he’s due back, so your schedule will be cleared for that day.” 

“So, what, I sit around twiddling my thumbs until he shows up? No.” Hank just shook his head. “Come on, just give me the easy stuff. Hell, I’ll even take the inspections.” 

He sighed. “He’s usually never in early; I’ll just keep you clear after lunch.” 

“Fine,” she nodded, taking a moment to let everything hit her until a quick peek at the clock showed it was almost three. “You have anything else for the day?” 

Hank waved her off. “Nah, couple minor things. Go get a head start on the weekend.” 

V stood there a moment contemplating until Hank shooed her off. She really wouldn’t mind another job or two before the end of the day, but if he insisted... 

So, she called up Jackie who she figured would be more than delighted to get caught up on any- and everything Smasher. After a quick jump to her apartment for a shower she was off to meet him back at Lizzie’s where he had their booth and drinks waiting for her. 

“I don’t know Jack, maybe it won’t be that bad? It’ll be, what, once or twice a month I have to work on him? Maybe I was just overreacting, still freaked from his reaction.” She scrambled to come up with something after telling Jackie everything only for him to shrug his shoulders at her and tell her exactly what Hank did. 

“Exactly hermana, you’re overthinking it. Just put your head down and do the damn job,” he offered her another shot, which she didn’t turn down. 

“But he’s _terrifying._ I can throw jabs back at the other guys when they want to talk shit but I feel like doing that to him would land me through a wall.” 

Jackie just shook his head before throwing back his own drink. “What is with you and going through walls?” 

She actually laughed a little at that, slouching against the back of the booth. “I don’t know, I heard it’s his thing.” 

“You’ll figure it out chica, just do what Hank said; be smart.” 

“Yea, right. Simple as that,” she said flatly. 

The next couple weeks passed by like they usually did; they never really seemed slow because work was steady so she always had something to do. That all came to a screeching halt when week three rolled around and dragged on, and on, and on. Though he most likely wasn’t due in until the next week she found herself coming in every day holding her breath, waiting for the heads up from Hank. Even when word didn’t come her head was on a swivel the entire time she was working on anything else. She did make a point to stop by station one as they were breaking for lunch one day to thank Felix for taking on the mech she couldn’t finish, and also because she kind of wanted to snoop. She remembered Hank said both he and Richter had been Smasher’s go-to at some point until whatever “incidents” had occurred. 

Felix had raised his left hand, giving a slight wave to show off his cybernetic hand and forearm. “I, uh, didn’t have a cybernetic arm when I started.” 

Apparently Smasher grabbed his wrist, though his whole hand covered part of his forearm as well, and crushed every bone in his grasp. Richter had the matching set on his right arm. 

This didn’t leave V with the brightest spirits going into the following week, but she tried her best to not let it affect her work. It was Thursday when she finally got the call after making it to her station to set up for the morning. 

“You’re freed up after lunch but I still had two more for you. Maybe you can get them done once you’re done with Smasher, or just add them to your load for tomorrow.” 

“Sounds good, thanks Hank,” she flashed a smile up at the Lookout where he stood in the window. 

V was thankful he didn’t actually load her up with inspections like she’d initially offered, so she was quick to dive into the minor tweaks and repairs of her first mech. It was a weirdly calming routine for her; taking things apart, finding the issues, why this piece not working affected another part, then putting everything back together again like it was brand new. She knew it was what she could see herself doing in the long run, that’s why her left hand was probably her favorite piece of cyberware she gifted herself with such a long time ago; it made it easier to do the thing she liked the most. 

She was lost in her fifth mech by the time lunch rolled around, Hank popping up on her holo interrupting her train of thought. “You almost done with that one?” She didn’t miss the insisting tone sprinkled on the seemingly innocent question. 

“Almost...” she mumbled, examining the firing mechanism she had taken apart at her bench. “I’ll finish this up and just take a short lunch, I’ve almost got it.” 

He didn’t say anything before cutting the call, but she caught his leery expression before he blinked off the holo. 

V was confident though as she reassembled the mechanism and fit it back into the mounted gun on its left arm. That is, until the alarm for the freight elevator buzzed. Seeing as everyone had already left out for lunch and there shouldn’t be anything else arriving or leaving, she didn’t have to check to know what that meant. Thankfully with the freight elevator being on the opposite end of the floor, she had just enough time to finish securing the panels and whistle for one of the operators to come escort the mech off to a holding area. At her workbench clearing up some of the clutter, she listened for the mech to march off just in time for Smasher to take its place. 

He didn’t say anything as he approached the workstation so that was something, good or bad was anyone’s guess. She steeled herself with a deep breath and turned to follow him into the station, only to lose that breath in a quick huff since she wasn’t expecting him to be standing just a few feet behind her. He stood there silently, giving no indication that he was going to move so she switched optics, ready to get on with things and steady her heart pounding in her chest. 

“Are you going to let me replace that chest plate now?” she tried, noticing the hairline cracks from before were reaching further, actually splitting open in some spots along the edge. 

“Not what I’m here for.” 

_Should’ve seen that coming._

However, looking up and down the rest of him with the scanner came up with... nothing. She pressed her lips into a hard line, trying to avoid his stare boring through her skull as she scanned every plate, joint, casing, and hose she could see but- 

_Oh._

She couldn’t stop the roll of her eyes as she stepped around him and, lo and behold, the back of him lit up like the city center at nightfall. 

_Cheeky bastard._

Someone must’ve tried to get the drop on him; decent enough plan, managed to do _some_ damage but obviously not enough. Spinal plating would probably take the most time because of all the layered pieces but it shouldn’t be too much of a headache as long as nothing underneath was nicked. V went ahead and sent the initial list to Hank, calibrated her cyberware and made her way up the catwalk steps, only pausing when she realized he wasn’t following. 

“Can you back up to the catwalk... please?” she asked as she removed a section of the detachable railing. 

“So you can go back to just sitting on your ass?” he mocked, at least turning to face her. 

She sat down on the catwalk, legs hanging over the edge, and readied her cyberware. “As long as the job gets done, right?” 

The déjà vu from their last encounter wasn’t lost on her, but it didn’t seem to piss him off last time so, worth a shot? It seemed like it, until he didn’t move. She waited another couple seconds, letting out a huff as she readied to get back up and at least ask him to move near the stairs when he finally budged. He marched towards her, a little slower but not as menacingly as the last time which was why she stayed seated, her heart thudding in her chest with each step he took. She had to pull her legs up out of the way at the last second as he stopped right in front of her, and even sitting up on the catwalk it was unnerving to only be eyelevel with his chest. She could practically feel the holes his glare was boring into her before he finally turned around, giving her access to the parts of his back that she needed. 

Now that he wasn’t glaring at her, V closed her eyes and took the deepest, quietest breath she could manage to try and steady her heart rate. “Thank you,” she muttered as impassively as she could manage and got to work. 

V worked quickly like she usually did but was extra diligent around the reinforced spinal column. Other than his head she figured his spine was probably the only other organic piece of him left, so she could imagine he’d be none too keen on having _anyone_ tinkering back there. He didn’t seem to have any gripes though as he was silent through most of the process. 

At some point in the repairs her feet started to fall asleep from sitting cross-legged, so she let them hang freely over the edge of the catwalk. When it came time to lining up the spinal plates, she used the top of her left thigh to set up a couple at a time. They started to slide forward and she quickly jerked her leg up, her foot bumping a piece on the side of his leg in the process. She paused for the berating that was sure to follow, but when it didn’t she tested her toe on the piece again. It was the right height to keep her leg level enough for the small plates to sit still without sliding, so she used it until she was finished since he didn’t seem to notice. 

When everything was said and done, she wiped off the new plating and did a final scan. “Ok, should be good to go.” 

She expected him to just walk off like he usually did, so to say she was surprised when he turned to face her again was an understatement. Surprise turned to confusion when he took another step closer and she had to lean back to keep his gaze. Her heart was thudding again and his silence stretched on for a few beats too long. She opened her mouth to say something but only a silent scream took its place as a searing pain shot up her entire leg. Crumpling in on herself, she had to grab a hold of the catwalk’s railing to keep herself from falling into him. Tears threatened to blur her vision so she squeezed her eyes shut, breath coming out as a hiss through her clenched teeth. 

“Such a fragile thing,” he mused, his voice a low rumble compared to its usual harshness. 

When she was confident that she could keep the tears at bay she opened her eyes to find his hand wrapped around her left foot like a vice. The same foot she had propped up on his leg a few minutes ago. 

V punched the catwalk next to her, her other hand still white-knuckling the railing. “Please...” she gasped. 

His grip threatened to tighten. “You can do better than that.” 

“No, please! Please don’t,” she hissed, trying not to draw any attention. He regarded her for a moment, and she took the time to straighten up as much as possible and stare right back at him, brows furrowed in pain and anger.

There was a huff of static and then he released her foot. “Next time.” 

She gasped as he finally left, pulling her leg up and stretching it out on the catwalk next to her. Taking careful deep breaths, she tried not to focus on the throbbing in her foot as Hank popped up on the holo. 

“You alright, kid?” He sounded concerned but also not surprised, and she hated him for it in that second. 

“Yea, fine,” she breathed, staring at the crinkled boot that trapped her foot. “Hey, uh, move those two mechs to my schedule tomorrow, yea?” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this is tagged slow burn but I guess I shoulda put EXTRA slow, I'm really trying to get the development pacing down but thank you guys so much for bearing with me on this I just want it to be *good* y'all but my self confidence in my ideas and my writing is *non-existent*


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I keep saying this but thank you everyone for the comments <3 and thank you for sticking with this!

V took the rest of the afternoon to slowly wiggle the feeling back into her toes before gingerly removing her boot, hoping to massage the feeling back in her foot as well. Nothing broken, thankfully, but she still was in no hurry to walk it off. Relief was an understatement when the guy in station five next to her, she couldn’t remember his name, offered to take her logs up to the Lookout. She was still sitting there when quitting time rolled around, not taking notice until Hank walked up and sat at the top of the steps near her, the other supervisors on their way to the service elevator.

“How is it?”

“Not broken,” she muttered, then took a quick breath and straightened herself up. “It’ll be fine.”

“You’re lucky,” he said as he stood up, holding out his hand to her.

She grabbed it with one hand and the railing with the other and pulled herself up, waiting until she was steady enough to put her foot down. “I don’t know, could’ve gotten off the hook like Felix and Richter, and only on my third time.” 

Hank sighed as he helped her down the steps. “Not that easily.”

“Whatever,” she sighed, letting go of his hand and taking a couple careful steps on her own. “Was my fault anyway.”

He walked alongside her to the elevator, hand out in case she needed it. “I know,” he chided, “I told you be smart, and you used him like a footrest.”

She rolled her eyes. “I was just focused on getting the job done.”

“You got comfortable.”

“Yea, like I usually do when I’m working,” she countered.

Hank walked ahead to the elevator to call it back down, waiting for her to catch up before continuing. There was still a limp in her step, but she was walking it off better than he expected. “Just stay on your toes around him.”

“Funny,” she said flatly, gesturing to her foot when he gave her a questioning look. 

He chuckled. “You know what I mean.”

The next day, the limp was almost completely gone from her stride as she exited the elevator. Felix gave her a knowing nod as she walked by, to which she responded with a wave over her shoulder as she made her way to her workstation. With two additional mechs on her plate for the day there was no time to mess around and she was ready to dive into her first one. 

Hank was pleasantly surprised at the eagerness she came in with, and she had been too at first. Then she realized it was because her worst day was behind her, the day she’d spent a whole week and a half dreading. Now it was over and she could work peacefully for another month before she had to worry about how she would fare the next time Smasher came in.

Until that time came the very next week. 

Luckily it was just an inspection she was working on at the time, and she happened to be checking around the room when the freight elevator opened and he came storming off. She didn’t have time to question anything yet, whistling for the nearest operator to come get the mech out of the way as he approached. Waiting with hands on her hips, she was ready to figure out why the hell he was there as he rounded into her workstation, but she didn’t even need to switch her optics for that. The heavy armored plate on his chest finally took the hit that split the cracks straight up through the middle, the one half barely hanging onto the mounting bracket. 

V crossed her arms in silence, surprised that in light of recent events the emotion she felt the most right now was sheer annoyance; so maybe she let it show a bit?

“Say it,” he dared, knowing very well just what she wanted to tell him. 

She bit the inside of her cheeks ensuring she would do  _ no _ such thing. Not yet. Instead, she sent the scan of what she needed downstairs and tried to see exactly what she had to work with. Unfortunately, it was an impossible feat without getting all up in his space; there was minimal clearance between the armor plate and his chest for her to try and squeeze her arm through. Getting to the bolts that secured the plate to the mounting bracket was going to be a bitch because  _ why bolt it on from the front?  _ There was more clearance from the top and bottom of the plate so she could probably reach up from the bottom, but she wouldn’t be able to see over the top unless...

She threw a couple glances between him standing in front of her and the catwalk behind her, contemplating if she wanted to hear him chastising her for sitting and working again until he made up her mind for her.

“Just sit the fuck down and get on with it,” he finally grumbled, pushing past her to stand in front of the platform.

Biting the insides of her cheeks again to keep from smirking, she turned to follow him, skipping the couple of steps up onto the catwalk and removing the section of railing she needed out of the way. She knelt down in front of him, hesitating a bit as she eyed the plate. There really was no other way to go about it so she steeled herself as she reached up under the bottom of the plate, carefully peeking over the top of it to see what she was doing, and trying her damnedest not to headbutt him in the chin. 

She figured it’d be a good idea to get the smaller broken half out of the way first, that should make getting to the rest of it easier, but  _ why did it have to be the right side? Multitool’s in the left hand. It's fine, just switch over, don’t headbutt him. Wait, did my hair move? I hope I didn’t just brush his nose. Would it tickle? At least he can’t sneeze, right? I hope he can’t smell. Then why would he still have his nose?  _

V tried to block out her nervous inner monologue while she worked, finally getting the smaller piece freed from the bracket and catching it before it clattered to the ground. The larger piece followed suit now that it was easier to see what she was doing but she wasn’t exactly happy when it was off. The mounting bracket was obviously bent and it looked to be anchored deeper in his chest. 

“Bracket’s bent,” she finally huffed, ready to start unbolting the protective plates of his chest until he took a step back, almost making her fall forward off the catwalk.

“Just replace the armor plate and be done with it,” he snapped.

She caught herself with the railing, moving to sit with her legs hanging off the edge. “It's not going to line up,” she insisted, trying not to let her annoyance show.

He wouldn’t budge. “Then fix it.”

“Sure, I’ll just torch it while it’s on your chest, bend it back and hope it doesn’t crack and land you in here again next week.” She pressed her lips into a hard line, a little too late obviously as she couldn’t stop the word vomit, but she wasn’t about to be told how to do her job  _ wrong. _

V held his gaze, unmoving as he stepped forward again. “Someone’s feeling brave,” he toyed.

“Just trying to do the best job that I can,” she muttered, gingerly reaching forward to work on the first bolt in his chest. 

When he didn’t protest, she pressed on and began working the bolts out of the plating. The larger pieces came away easy enough, leaving the tubes underneath that converged in the middle and a circular unit off-center to his right side with blinking- or, pulsing lights? Like a heartbeat? She opened her mouth to ask but thought better of it, having a good idea of the response she’d get. 

Those two plates were just about enough though; it was a tight squeeze to get to the bolt that secured the mounting bracket to a deeper anchor point, but she wasn’t about to dive deeper into his chest so she made it work. As soon as they brought the  parts she needed she was able to get the new mounting bracket in place and, with a little less fumbling, the chest plate secured. 

“Took long enough,” he grumbled as she finished wiping down the armor plate.

“Probably wouldn’t have needed it if someone let me replace this last week,” she retorted, tapping the back of her knuckle against the plate for emphasis. 

She couldn’t help but flinch when his hand shot up and landed on her thigh a little above her knee, pinning it to the catwalk. The hold wasn’t painful, but it certainly wasn’t comfortable either. “Still feeling brave?” he questioned slowly.

Her throat tightened at the low rumble of his voice, though she wanted to object for fear of him crushing her knee this time.  _ Stupid,  _ she berated herself, Hank’s previous words coming to mind.  _ You got comfortable. _

A low hum sounded from his voice emitter when she didn’t answer, head cocking to the side ever so slightly. “Wouldn’t mind reminding you just how fragile you are.” He punctuated the last couple words by squeezing her leg a little tighter each time.

She clenched her teeth as the hold bordered on painful, her eyes flickering down to his hand on her leg before going back to meeting his stare, less than eager to have a repeat of last week. For the life of her though, she couldn’t make any words come out; they all got trapped in her throat. Not that she even really knew what to say; start pleading again? Protest? She didn’t know what he wanted – Scratch that. She knew exactly what he was doing; making a point. 

_ Loud and clear.  _

It must have shown on her face, or he got bored, because a second later he freed her leg and took a couple steps back. “Next time,” he said flatly, back to his usual harshness as he turned and left her station.

V was left to sort herself out, absentmindedly rubbing away the ache in her leg as she struggled with her thoughts.  _ Next time, what? Was that an I’m-going-to-hurt-you ‘next time’? Short way of saying ‘see you next time’? No, definitely not... Why the fuck did you knock on his chest? _

Another mech approaching her station finally snapped her out of it, and she was thankful for the diversion. She needed to get back to work; needed to get out of her head. Now that the clock started over and she was – hopefully – done with him for another month, she could do just that. 

Sitting on the edge of the bed in her apartment, V sat staring down at her lap. The plan was to meet Jackie out at Lizzie’s, and she was in a mood so she decided on a short tight dress and some over-the-knee boots. That was until she checked out her reflection, noticing the bruise sitting just above the top of her boot stretching from the inside all the way around to the outside of her thigh. She'd been watching it over the past couple of days, how it changed so drastically from red to its now angry purple color, but it always kind of surprised her just how far it reached around her not-so-small thigh. She could just throw on her usual tight pants, crop top and a jacket and call it good enough but...

She frowned at the bruise until Jackie’s call popped up on the  holo “V! You get cold feet? Said you were  gonna be here half an hour ago,” he shouted over the commotion of the bar.

“Yea, Jack, walking out the door now.” Guess that was decided for her. Hopefully it would be dark enough inside, or Jackie would be too drunk to notice the bruise.

That just wasn’t her luck though as she walked up to their little corner booth, clasping his outstretched hand only for him to pull her down onto the bench next to him. “Chica, what’s this? Getting clumsy on the job?” he joked, going in to poke at the angry mark until she swatted his hand away. 

“No, I’m not,” she exclaimed, throwing back two of the shots he already had set up on the table. Giving it a second thought though, that probably should have been her excuse if she didn’t want to tell him it was actually from Smasher. 

_ Well fuck. _

She tried to avoid his inquisitive stare, hating how much he was able to read her, but it was no use. She probably would’ve wound up telling him about it anyway. “Might’ve annoyed Smasher a little bit.”

He scrubbed his hand down his face. “I thought that’s like, the exact opposite of what you were  gonna try to do?”

“Well, he should have let me do the whole job last week,” she said finally, waving over for two more drinks.

“He was in last week too? Busy fucker. Must be nice.”

V slid one of the glasses in front of him and took her own, raising it and waiting. “Jobs not coming in for you?”

“Nothing big, nothing  _ fun _ ,” he raised his glass and clinked it with hers, “but that’s enough griping for one night.”

They threw back their drinks and spent the rest of the evening as they typically would; V listening to Jackie retell wild moments from his latest jobs, usually with over-the-top exaggerations and extreme reenactments that involved him pretending to use the booth or table as cover. She always thought he was trying to rope her into merc work; hell, he gifted her first and only pistol to her way back when she first started having trouble in the factory. They even used to go to a shooting range every once in a while, before she started at  Arasaka . She'd have to talk to him about going again sometime. 

One thing she probably should have paid more attention to that night however, was the comment Jackie made about Smasher being busier than usual. Then it would have made sense why he was coming in, again, just two weeks later. She tried not to groan aloud when Hank called to tell her that morning, informing her that her schedule would be cleared after lunch. She still had four more mechs on the lineup though, so she worked on one through the lunch hour and convinced Hank to bring her something back from wherever he ate. Finishing right around when everyone returned, she cleared her station and sat up in the Lookout with Hank to eat her lunch.

She eyed the service elevator as she scarfed down the rest of her noodles, ready to spring to her feet the second it opened. 

“Did you even taste it?” Hank teased, rocking back in his chair.

V made a face at him from behind the noodle cup. “ _ Yes _ .  Just trying to be ready.”

“ Well, isn’t that something,” he muttered, sitting up to start logging stuff from the morning. 

V kicked up her feet on the edge of his desk, rocking back in her chair while she eyed the clock. Two, three, and finally four o’clock rolled around when some of the guys started finishing for the day, heading up to the Lookout to drop off their logs before punching out. Her gaze shifted to the elevator, irritation churning in her gut as another hour passed and the supervisors were the last ones left. 

She was lost in thought when they started gathering their things to leave. Hank stood beside her and she heaved a sigh as she followed suit, unzipping her jumpsuit to pull her arms out of the sleeves. “Well, that was a colossal waste of time.”

Hank hesitated a bit as he shut everything down at his desk. “He uh, could still be coming in.”

V shrugged, tied her sleeves around her waist and straightened out her tank top. “Then uh, he can wait at my station for me. I’ll be back in the morning.”

“Really? How do you think that’s going to blow over?” He gave her a knowing look and walked out of the Lookout with the rest of the supervisors, V following behind him.

“I mean... not well obviously,” she hesitated, "but do I seriously just have to sit around and wait for him? What if he doesn’t even show up?” He shrugged as he got on the elevator with the others but that didn’t do anything to help with her rising anger. “Well then have one of my mechs sent in so I can at least get caught up while I wait.”

“Alright, alright. If anyone’s still around I’ll send them.”

That’s all she needed. She turned without another word and stormed off to her workstation, throwing her cap onto her bench and sitting on the catwalk steps to wait for her mech. She could feel the headache threatening to bloom at the back of her head so she untied her tight braid to massage her scalp while she waited. Was she mad about having to work late? Maybe a little bit. Mad about having to wait on and stay late to work on Smasher? With no one else around? Abso-fucking-lutely. 

The elevator buzzed and she honestly wasn’t sure if she was relieved or pissed that it was just her mech, but at least she had something to do now. Having them set it up in station five next to hers, she waved off the operator so they didn’t have to wait until she was finished; she was going to take her time and it won’t hurt for it to sit there until morning. With a scan done and a fresh log started she threw her hair up in a loose bun on the top of her head, climbed up the catwalk and onto the mech, and got to work on the left mounted gun. 

She could feel herself growing  more irate with every ten minutes that passed, constantly looking up to see if the elevator light would start flashing, losing focus to the point she started fumbling with bolts and other pieces, some of them falling from her hands all together. She eventually reached the point where she just didn’t care; didn’t care a couple hours more had passed or that she was taking so long to finish this mech. Didn’t care to look up when the freight elevator finally buzzed, and sure as hell didn’t bother to stop what she was doing as Smasher approached and stood in front of the mech she was sitting on. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoo buddy, we're getting there. And by *there* I mean the part where I struggle to get my thoughts and ideas on paper. Seriously I wish you guys could see my notebook 😂😅


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't tell you how much I loved hearing your thoughts on where the story would go 😁 Thanks for being so patient, I wanted to try something different and it proved to be more challenging than I thought so I hope it turned out okay

Adam stepped off the AV and made his way to the loading elevator, his systems continuously warning him of the dropping pressure in his coolant system. Getting back behind schedule was an annoyance in itself after that shit op and having to come in for repairs after all that was just the icing on the fucking cake, but it couldn’t wait so he entered the elevator with it already decided; if the bitch wasn’t down there, he'd probably kill her the next time he saw her, or maybe he’d even hunt her down. Couldn’t be that hard to find her. The thought crossed his mind a couple times, of shutting her up for good when she started to forget her place, but then she proves she can be useful so he decides he'd just find some enjoyment in putting her back in check. 

He exited the elevator and made his way down the line of workstations, finding the girl atop one of the mechs. She ignored him at first, continuing on with whatever she was doing, obviously annoyed of having to stay late. Giving him the cold shoulder though? It could have been laughable if it weren’t so pathetic. He would have dealt with that right then had the thought alone not caused a fluctuation with his internal temps, triggering the coolant system warning again. 

Fine. That would have to wait. 

Using every last ounce of reserve he had, he stepped away silently and entered her station, audio receptors picking up the huff she let out as she slid off the mech and landed on the ground to follow him. He turned to find her already focused on him, eyes seeming to look right through him as she scanned for the problem. She circled around behind him and it didn’t take long for her hands to work at taking pieces away, quick to find the damaged panel that had nicked the coolant line underneath. 

“Hope you use the same stuff as the mechs,” she muttered, gathering the things she needed to replace the line, bleed, and refill the system.

She worked quickly which he liked, since he wasn’t particularly fond of feeling his coolant system being drained while she replaced the hose, and she stayed quiet which he liked even more. He could tell she was about done when the system warnings ceased and temps started dropping, and he almost considered overlooking her previous impudence from when he first arrived until she did finally speak up.

“You might want to let the system circulate and stabilize a minute, but then you should be good to go.” She walked back around to the front of him, cleaning her hands of the coolant with a rag. “I can’t replace the one panel though since no one’s downstairs to cut it, so you’ll need to come back for that.”

Fine.

She shoved the rag into her back pocket and left him to return to the mech, “and let’s not make a habit of these late nights, yea?” she muttered, seemingly to herself, though he clearly picked up on the sharpness in her tone. Has she still failed to realize he could hear practically everything that came out of her mouth?

Evidently, she forgot who she was speaking to. He would have to remind her.

Waiting until his internals returned their normal range, he made his way over to the next station where she was working on something at the bench. She was either too engrossed in what she was doing or still throwing her little temper tantrum to pay any mind to him walking up behind her.

“Is there something else you need-” she started to ask, turning her head to look over her shoulder at the last second. 

That probably saved her nose from breaking when he grabbed the back of her neck and shoved her forward onto the workbench, crushing the side of her face onto the surface instead. She let out a yelp, but even that was cut short when he slammed his other fist onto the table barely an inch from her nose. 

He took a moment to relish the way she trembled under his hand, the way her eyes widened in panic and how those panicked eyes tried to search for him as he leaned over her. “Oh, did  _ I  _ inconvenience  _ you _ ?” 

Her mouth moved like she was going to say something but all that escaped was a strained groan as she tried to collect herself.

“Let’s get one thing straight,” he growled, “you’re at  _ my _ disposal. That is, until you’ve outlived your usefulness in which case,” he squeezed her neck a little tighter “disposing of you is exactly what I’ll do.” 

She drew another ragged breath and he backed off of her just barely, still hovering over her. He watched as the emotions flashed across her face, from shock to fear, realization, and he couldn’t miss the tiniest hint of anger as her hands clenched into fists at the edge of the workbench down by her hips. It all excited him, maybe in more ways than one he realized after he backed off of her just a bit, just enough to appreciate the way she looked under him. 

Yea, that was doing something for him, something he hasn’t felt in a little while. 

She stayed there helplessly waiting, probably petrified of the thought of him snapping her neck right then. Of course, he could do whatever he damn well pleased and he’d be lying if he said he didn’t consider indulging, optics pinging each camera around the room. They’d be a non-issue obviously, though security a couple floors above would definitely come to investigate as soon as the feed cut. That would just be a buzzkill. 

No, he wouldn’t yield to the urge, chalking it up to a fleeting feeling already fading the longer he dwelled on it. He’d let her run off to lick her wounds, thinking she’d gotten away with something. She’d be back to pissing him off in no time, and he’d put her right back where she belonged. So he slowly stood upright, releasing her neck to hear that sharp intake of breath, and left her there without another word. 

* * *

There was no sleep to be had when she finally got herself home after...  _ that _ . After sitting on the shower floor under the hot water for about thirty minutes, she crawled her way into bed where she couldn’t get comfortable. Her neck and the entire left side of her face was sore, and all she kept thinking of was having to deal with him tomorrow if he came back in to have that one plate replaced. She thought about calling in sick but that would just make things worse for herself.

_ At his disposal.  _ " Pffft ,” she huffed, but she knew that she was.

If he was going to trap her into this then fine, but he couldn’t force her to like it and she was going to make that known. Besides, if he only wants her to work on him then he’s obviously not going to seriously hurt her. That much. Hopefully. He hasn’t yet at least. Though, she kept thinking back to him looming over her, the way he stood there for so long he had to be thinking about killing her. Was that really the bluff she wanted to call?

She begrudgingly got herself out of bed when her alarm went off, going into the bathroom and looking herself in the mirror for the first time after last night. Her cheekbone was already starting to bruise, it reaching up around her left eye to where the edge of her eyebrow was split. Pushing her hair aside revealed the bruise from his hand that reached around the sides of her neck leaving only a small gap over her throat untouched. She frowned at herself in the mirror; that wasn’t going to cover up easily. 

V stepped off the service elevator with her cap on and her hair down knowing damn well what an idiot she looked like. Making it to her station without pulling too much attention, she got there in time to see... Roy, that was his name, in station five looking more than a little confused at the mess made of his bench. Probably should have straightened that up before she left out, though there was nothing she could have done for the dent Smashers fist made. Taking a sip of her specially prepared coffee for the day, she was ready to get to work when Hank called her up to the Lookout.

_ Should’ve expected that.  _

She made it up to the Lookout and over to Hank’s desk, leaning her hip against the edge when he finally looked up from his screen. “Hey, how’d it  go last night? Did he finally... show?” he stuttered, peeking under the bill of her cap. “What the hell happened to you?”

“He showed up.” V straightened up when he stood, not stopping him when he reached to take off her hat.

“What the hell V...” he sighed.

“I don’t know Hank, what the hell?” she snapped, taking her cap back. “You’re my supervisor and you left me here alone.”

“You’ve worked overtime by yourself before without a problem,” he insisted, though it sounded weak.

“On the mechs! He’s not one of the mechs Hank!”

He sighed defeatedly knowing she was right. “I shouldn’t have left you, I’m sorry.”

V straightened her hat back on her head. “Was that all? Can I go now?”

“Yea.”

With that, she huffed her way out of the Lookout and down the steps. She wanted to be mad at Hank for leaving her, but she also knew there really wasn’t a damn thing he could’ve done anyway. At least she wouldn’t have been left alone to stew in her anger, essentially creating the blowup that happened. Making it back down to her station, she finally got to work on her first mech. Even though Hank didn’t say anything about Smasher coming back in, she found herself checking over her shoulder every now and then to see if he’d be coming off the elevator. She was going to be ready. 

Lunch rolled around when she finally met Masato, officially. He initially came over to make sure she was ok after noticing her bruises and that she wasn’t in any sort of trouble or anything, joking about ‘us Arroyo kids  gotta stick together’. Then he managed to convince her to go out to lunch with him and some of the other guys where they talked about where they were from around Arroyo, which factories they worked in, what they did. He said at one point he worked in the same one she did but for the life of her she couldn’t remember him.

Surprisingly, she made it through the week without hearing anything from Hank, so she was ready to go into Saturday in good spirits. Jackie managed to get in touch with an old friend of a friend and they found themselves up in one of the  Megabuildings in Little China, pistols strapped to their hips. It wasn’t where she remembered shooting with him before, but the guy Wilson was willing to let them in. 

“You remember how to use that thing?” Jackie teased, setting out a couple extra cases of ammo he bought for them to blow through.

V just rolled her eyes, loaded the magazine and racked the slide. “I think so.”

They went back and forth for a little while, sharing the same lane while she warmed up and got a feel for the gun again, and eventually they split up and had their own little competition. Jackie usually wiped the floor with her in points because he hit the targets as many times as possible before they flipped up again while she mainly just went for the bullseye.

“So, what’s got you wanting to shoot again?” he quizzed, leaning a shoulder on the partition that divided their lanes. 

She took a steady breath, firing once at the next target that dropped, hitting it square in the chest. “I don’t know, blow off some steam?”

“ Uhhh huh,” he drawled. “Practicing for whoever gave you those?”

Knowing he was talking about the bruises she shook her head. “Nah. Wouldn’t be enough.”

Jackie just sighed. “Why are you still doing it?”

“I don’t really have a choice, he made that perfectly clear,” she took another shot at the next target.

“Sure you do, just quit.”

V scoffed at that. “And do what, go back to the factory?”

“No, we can run jobs together, you and me!” He exclaimed proudly.

It’s not that she’s never killed anyone before, just only when she’s had to. The factories drew in a rough crowd and it was where she learned some problems couldn’t be ignored; you had to deal with them before they dealt with you. “I don’t think I’m cut out for merc work.”

“You’ll never know until you let me take you on one, just one job.”

She thought about it, but she always shut the idea down before it grew too big. “I can’t-”

Jackie let out an exasperated groan. “Okay, so then be a good little  Arasaka worker bee and work for Smasher-”

“I don’t work  _ for _ Smasher-” 

“- and keep your head down and mouth shut and just do the damn job until he gets bored of you!” he blurted.

She had to put the gun down to scrub her hands down her face in frustration. “I know, I know, I know... but I can’t help it sometimes, I’m not just going to keep my mouth shut when-”

Jackie grabbed both her shoulders. “I know, and if you know then why are you backing yourself into this corner?”

“I don’t know!” she finally exclaimed. “I don’t fucking know, Jack.”

“You’re too damn stubborn for your own good,” he said with finality, though he deflated a little bit seeing how conflicted she really was over the whole thing. “Ay chica, what am I gonna do with you?”

“Can we feed me first and then figure something out?” she pouted, not wanting to give the whole thing much more thought.

They did wind up gabbing a bite to eat, and Jackie did a good job of being his normal goofy self and keeping her distracted enough, but it was back at her apartment where she found herself getting stuck in her head. She practically stayed stuck through part of the week, finally snapping out of it when Masato stopped by her station.

“You coming with us today?” he asked, referring to what became the usual spot for lunch with some of the other guys.

“I uh, don’t know,” V pondered, stepping away from the mech. “Trying to get as much done as possible before lunch so was thinking about working through it.” Smasher was due to come in but she still had three mechs lined up after lunch, and after last week she  _ really _ wasn’t sure when to expect him. 

He waved her off. “Nah, don’t do that. I can help with whatever you have left.”

She pursed her lips in thought then shrugged. “I mean, yea, that would be cool. If you’re sure?”

“Yea, definitely. Come on,” he flashed a smile, walking towards some of the others that were already on their way to the elevator. 

She still hesitated, part of her wanting – no,  _ knowing _ – she should stay put just in case but ultimately, she figured she’d be fine. Other than  that _ one _ time, he usually didn’t come in until after the lunch hour. That one time was the fluke, right? 

So why was she nervous the entire time they were out at lunch? Why did she dread the slow elevator ride back down to their sublevel, and who was she trying to kid by acting surprised to see none other than the giant fucking cyborg himself standing at her station? His glare found her the moment the elevator doors slid open and for a split second she convinced herself that she did not see that coming, but of course she did, and she tried to ignore the pitiful looks from the guys as they stepped off the elevator around her. 

It must be some kind of subconscious  death wish . Had to be. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please accept this little snippet of Smasher's POV 😭 IDK why but it was so hard to write, I had the mindset (I think) but whatever I typed just sounded MEH, I really hope it's ok. I just really wanted to get his perspective of *certain things*. I also hope you don't think I copped outta that one LOL I just really wanted to get some things *established* without anything happening just yet.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I read all your comments over and over again to keep me in the zone, thank you all for making my day over and over ❤️  
> Also, I totally wouldn't mind if you guys found me on tumblr (same username) 👀 I try to post updates of where I'm at in updating chapters, and maybe the occasional shitpost

V straightened up as she stepped off the elevator, trying not to let the irritation with herself show. She knew it – she fucking called it – and now she’s going to get what she deserves for being an idiot. She could feel all the guys’ sidelong glances as she walked past their stations up to Smasher standing just in front of hers. He didn’t make a move, didn’t even say anything, so she skirted by him and went right for her workbench. She listened to his heavy footfalls as he followed her, grabbing for her coffee with a shaky hand and taking a couple longs gulps as he stopped behind her. 

Hank popped up on her holo then, and she pulled the cup away from her lips to see what he wanted until he cut her off. “Don’t talk, just listen,” he blurted. “He’s only been here maybe five minutes, I told him you got called upstairs but I don’t know what for. Relax.” 

He cut the call before she could say anything so she took a deep steadying breath, sent him the biggest thank you in her mind, and put her coffee down to turn and face Smasher. Not wasting a moment, she circled around him for a full scan just in case but it looked like he still only needed that one plate from last week replaced. Odd, since she figured he was putting that off until he needed to come in for something else. 

When nothing else came up she got to work on removing the plating. “Was uh, this it then? No upgrades or mods or anything?” 

He was silent for a moment and she made a face behind him when she was sure he wouldn’t answer. “No,” he spoke plainly. 

She pressed her lips into a hard line. _Oh, alright then._

Flipping the plate around in her hands as she walked back around him, she caught the slight turn of his head as he followed her movements over to her bench. She discarded the busted piece, letting it land heavily on the tabletop as she leaned back against the edge. This was... weird. It shouldn’t take too long to cut and prep the one small piece she needed, but with nothing to do until then... 

She began to feel meek under his stare, remembering her fading bruises from last week. “So... slow week then?” 

“That’s none of your concern.” 

V puffed out her cheeks and let the breath out in a huff. “Was just a question. Wouldn’t expect you to come in for one measly plate.” 

“And here I thought you enjoyed my more frequent visits,” he mocked. 

Huffing out a dry laugh, she turned back around to her bench and found one of the joint mechanisms she was working on before lunch. 

She pulled Hank up on the holo. “Hey, where’s my mech?” 

“Over in two, Masato said he was helping you out today.” 

After cutting the call and blinking away the holo view she found Masato already watching her, giving a slight wave when she noticed him. She responded by holding up the part he was probably looking for and then pushed away from her bench. 

“Where do you think you’re going?” Smasher spoke up, his tone holding a dangerous edge. 

Oh, he had a question for her now? “Don’t worry about it, I’ll be right back,” she called over her shoulder as she walked out of her station. 

Masato flashed a nervous smile as she approached, reaching to accept the part from her. “Thanks, I didn’t really want to come over and interrupt.” 

“Yea, don't blame ya there.” 

“Was everything ok after getting back?” he asked weakly. 

V nodded, crossing her arms. “Yea, Hank covered for me.” 

“Sorry, guess I shouldn’t have bugged you about lunch.” 

“No, no, it’s fine,” she sighed, “that was on me.” 

He went to say something else but his gaze drifted off to the side, catching something that made him pause. “That’s really fuckin’ unsettling.” 

She steeled herself and followed his gaze, knowing she didn’t have to to know Smasher was only two stations away glaring at her like looks could kill. 

“Yea, he’s got that effect on people. Thanks for the help by the way,” she offered before turning away to head back to her area. 

He still stood in the center of her station so she went back to her bench and sat herself up on the edge facing him, set on not letting him sneak up on her like last time, though that didn’t stop him from taking a couple steps towards her. 

“I’d ask if you were feeling brave again,” he said slowly, almost sounding amused, “but now I’m convinced it’s sheer stupidity.” 

She straightened up slightly as he got closer, craning her neck to hold his glare. “Bouncing my head off the workbench might’ve shaken something loose.” 

“We should try again, see if we can knock it back into place,” he threatened, hand twitching at his side like he was going to reach for her. 

Someone off to her right cleared their throat. “Uhm, V? Here’s that ah, piece you needed.” 

Smasher didn’t move, but she turned to find one of the guys from downstairs holding the plate she’d been waiting for. He reached as far as he could without actually moving closer to hand it to her, nervously eyeing Smasher before skirting off. He still loomed over her, unmoving, but she had just enough room to slide off the bench and squeeze around him, working quickly to get the new plate on. She barely got the final bolt secured before he was storming off out of her station. 

* * *

Adam took extra pleasure in dispatching of the remaining Militech convoy, his mind still reeling from the couple of days prior. That in itself infuriated him; he should have just killed the worthless meat who interrupted then taken the rest out on the insufferable cunt. So now he was taking it out on anything in his way, backhanding one of the remaining guards hard enough to snap his neck. 

Though he would never say so aloud, he wasn’t even sure why he went back that early. The girl was right about it being a particularly uneventful week and when he’d normally find himself on his way back to his quarters or checking up on any leads or loose ends, he found himself on that damned elevator instead. He was ignited anew at the thought of her not being down there when he arrived, reaffirming the fact that it was a complete waste of time and she had made him waste even more of it. She was lucky that so-called supervisor of hers caught him before he turned back for the elevator, already having the hunt on his mind, though Adam doubted the pathetic excuse he offered. 

Stomping the ankle of a guard trying to crawl away, he relished the scream that permeated his audio receptors followed by the sickening squelch as he crushed his head next. He took a moment to drink in the silence that followed. Though he got what he came for, thoughts of the girl still caused some internal fluctuations. Unfortunately, his scans came up with no remaining signs of life leaving him with no one to take it out on, so he tried not to think about her challenging him, trying to pass her fear for bravery, the fading bruises that still colored her skin showing proudly. How easy it would be to freshen those bruises... 

He called for his AV and made contact with the client. 

He made sure to take on any extra jobs or contracts from the ah, less ‘prestigious’ clientele for the next weeks, the ones who didn’t care how things got done, the messier the better to keep him sated. Adam made it three weeks before his system warnings became too much of an annoyance; nothing that really got in the way of him doing his job, except maybe when the projectile launcher in his arm or mounted on his shoulder took too much of a beating, but that was just another reason to get his hands dirty. 

He was well aware of the looks he got as he stepped off the elevator into the mech bay. The culmination of three weeks of going non-stop, not giving a fuck what the job entailed or who the job was for as long as he got to splatter as many sorry sacks of meat as possible, and oh did they spatter. There was one look in particular he could almost say he was looking forward to; she wanted to complain about him coming in for nothing the last time, he was really going to give her something to complain about now. 

She had just shooed off the mech she’d been working on when she caught sight of him walking down the line of workstations. Not doing a very good job at hiding her exasperation as she crossed her arms, he still caught the slightest hint of fear in her eyes before the subtle change to her optics indicated she was already scanning the damages. Going off his own diagnostics but not being able to see every piece like she could, he can only imagine how the scan looked. He stepped around her without a word, walking towards the back of the station in front of the catwalk and turning to face her. 

She stayed uncharacteristically quiet but continued to return his stare with vexation. “Is there a problem?” he prodded smugly, knowing damn well what he was doing. 

Sighing loudly, she finally approached him ready to start taking pieces away though she looked uncertain of where to begin. “Could have come in a little sooner, before it got _this_ bad.” 

“Well make up your fucking mind, which is it?” he snapped. 

She eyed him knowingly – knowing he didn’t give a damn about what she wanted – before crouching and starting on his right leg, letting the plates fall away to clang loudly on the floor in her own measly way of making her displeasure known. He got his own pleasure out of it though at the soft groans and complaints she made at the dried blood he knew still coated parts of his frame. 

“Make sure you get all that cleaned up,” he ordered casually, already anticipating her retaliation as she shot upright. 

“Excuse me?” 

He turned his head slightly to glare down at her. “What part of that was unclear?” 

“The part where you mistook this for the AV wash; that’s up there with the garage,” she said flatly. When he only continued to glare at her she faltered, “How... how the hell am I supposed to do that anyway? We don’t have a hose, or a-” 

“Figure it out.” 

She was reeling, biting her lip as she snapped her head this way and that before she suddenly turned for the room in the center of the bay. _Pfft, running to her supervisor? That’s rich._

Adam had to admit he was a little surprised when she walked back around the structure after maybe two minutes, toting a bucket that he noticed as she got closer was filled with water and a couple clean grease rags. If his chest could still swell with false pride it would have at the sight. He remained silent as she set the bucket down at his feet, resuming her stance by his leg as she started to clean the inner workings. 

Stealing glances as she worked her way up the limb, he caught how the water in the bucket got gradually redder, enough to give her skin the same tint when she dunked and wrung out the rag. It took another trip for a fresh bucket before she was almost done his other leg, ending up at the tube shocks that acted as his hip joints. He watched her closer then, awkwardly crouched in front of him as she worked. It was a good thing he had control over a certain concealed piece of cyberware... 

The thought came unexpectedly and his attempts to fight it off were futile as he continued to subtly watch her work, so he looked around the immediate area to catch the fleeting glances from the rest of the meat around the room. That’s when he noticed one in particular, the one she wasted time visiting during his last stop in, was watching as he walked to the center room. He was still openly staring on his trip back, seemingly contemplating something before he approached her station. 

She was still focused on him and Adam thought about just ignoring the puny slab of meat until his presence became irritating. “The fuck do you want?” he snapped, causing the girl to look up at him in confusion before checking over her shoulder. 

“To, uh,” he stammered pathetically, “to see if ah, V... do you, you want me to bring you something back?” 

“Oh, no, I’m okay. Thank you though,” she called over her shoulder as she got back to the task at hand. 

“Okay then, I guess we’ll catch you tomorrow then.” He paused, waiting for a reply that didn’t come. 

So, Adam answered for her. “Run along now, meat." 

He winced at the threatening tone, hurrying to catch up to a group of them at the elevator. 

_Fucking pathetic._

Knowing the repairs were going to take a longer time than any of his previous visits, he was somewhat pleased she was at least being efficient. His legs were the easiest task to start with; it was just damaged plating that needed replaced, and she was able to get him cleaned up before the new armor plates arrived and she got those on. She moved on to his arms next; removing plates, replacing torn or shredded hosing, and even getting to the projectile launcher before the next set of plating came up and got bolted on. Rinse and repeat. 

A couple hours had passed by the time she was up on the catwalk behind him, leaning over the railing and working on the shoulder mount for his micromissile launcher. “Fucking mangled this one...” she muttered. 

Not that she was moving him, obviously, but he could definitely feel her using her whole body while trying to yank something loose. “Are you done fucking around?” 

She huffed. “I can be, if you promise something.” 

“What are you on about?” he scoffed. 

“Don’t break my foot.” 

He didn’t have to wonder for long as she stepped onto the first rail, her other foot bracing against his back as she heaved on the crowbar wedged somewhere in the back of his shoulder. It took a couple seconds until he heard the _ting_ of the metal breaking free, followed abruptly by the absence of force and a hard thud on the catwalk behind him. He could feel the heavy sigh he wanted to release, but with no means to he simply turned to find her sitting up to sort herself out, holding the piece he suspected she was trying to free. 

“I’m okay,” she mumbled, rubbing the back of her head. 

“Didn’t ask,” he deadpanned, turning back around. 

She made quick work of replacing the piece, evidently the last one as she came out from behind him, stepping down the stairs to his side. “Good to go,” she affirmed, crowbar in hand as she carried some of the busted pieces over to her workbench. He started to leave, walking past her as she laid everything out to sort through it. “And you’re welcome,” she called out over her shoulder. 

A short gasp left her when his hand shot out and grabbed the back of her neck, using nowhere near the same amount of pressure as the last time, though still maybe enough to leave a new bruise he hoped. “You really like pushing your luck, don’t you?” 

It was probably smart she didn’t answer, so after a few seconds he released her and made his way out of the mech bay, already planning how he was going to line up his next couple weeks. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please have some more Adam POV, as a treat~  
> and boy do I have PLANS for next chapter


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanted to take the time to thank Darkwolf101 for reaching out and gushing over the beefy cyborg with me ❤ Lots of fun stuff shared, and they've even been so kind as to let me use a couple of their headcanons for inspiration 😊 That being said, they're looking for more headcanon ideas so if you got any that may be Smasher-appropriate I would suggest sending them their way @trashlord2020 on Tumblr!  
> And as always, thank you so much for all the love in the comments ❤❤❤ Ya'll really keep me motivated and excited to work on this

V tried not to make terrified eye contact with the guy across from her in station three, who was casually peeking around his mech watching everything transpire, so she resorted to just staring down at her workbench. The grip on the back of her neck was harsh but definitely only a warning, and biting her lip to keep her mouth shut at his question proved to be the better option as he released her after a moment, leaving her to let out the breath she’d been holding. 

_Well, I’d say that went pretty well._

Really well, in fact, when taking her track record into account. That weekend she found herself posted up at Lizzie’s with Jackie in their usual booth. They had been talking about his latest escapades involving Maelstrom, but when his stories died down he stretched his arms out across the back of the booth behind him. 

“Speaking of ‘borgy fuckers...” he motioned across the room for another round. 

She couldn’t stop the annoyingly exaggerated groan that escaped. “You should have seen him when he came in.” 

He chuckled. “Well, you did say last time-” 

“From his shoulders down, Jack, practically every plate!” She leaned across the table, “I even had to clean up all the leftover blood and guts.” 

That got a reaction from him. “Eugh, hermana...” he winced, accepting their drinks and passing one to her. “How bad did you piss him off for making you do that?” 

She couldn’t hold back her cheeky smirk. “I didn’t.” 

He let out a boisterous laugh at that before throwing back his drink. “You expect me to believe you kept quiet through all that?” 

V took her shot then scrunched up her nose at him. “I mean at first I definitely didn’t, but once I got started, I was just too focused to care,” she offered with a shrug. “Couldn’t even be bothered by Masato asking if I wanted him to bring me back some lunch.” 

“Pfft, hitting on you while you’re cleaning blood off Smasher?” he shook his head, “gonna get the gonk killed.” 

“Hey, I’m not doing shit, and he wasn’t _hitting_ on me-” 

Jackie scoffed. “C’mon chica.” She just rolled her eyes, shaking her head at him. “Who’s this guy again?” 

It was her turn to call for another round. “The one I told you about, from the factory.” 

“Right, right... He’s not bad news, is he?” 

V shrugged. “Doesn’t seem like it, I don’t remember him though.” 

He went expressionless for a moment and she didn’t like it so she shoved a drink in his hand. “It’s fine Jackie.” 

“Yea, you’re right,” he shook it off, taking the glass and raising it. “Welp, to coming out unscathed.” 

The next week went along normal enough, though for some reason there were more inspections to run than usual and by Wednesday V had had enough. 

“I swear, if I have to go through another checklist after lunch...” she droned, dropping the logs onto Hank’s desk. 

“I know. I have no idea where these orders are coming from, but there shouldn’t be any more inspections for the rest of the week.” He tried to sound assuring, but it was obvious he was over it too. 

She took a couple steps towards the door before turning back to him. “You coming out for a bite?” 

Hank shook his head. “Nah, brought leftovers.” 

V nodded then left the lookout, walking towards her station where Masato was waiting for her looking about as enthused as she felt. “So, those inspections huh?” 

“I don’t want to think about it, food is the only thing on my mind right now,” she sighed, walking past him on her way to the elevator, tying the sleeves of her jumpsuit around her waist as she walked. 

He jogged to catch up, falling in step beside her. “Hey, I was actually wanting to try someplace new for lunch but none of the guys seemed interested. Would you want to check it out with me?” 

She shrugged, “I don’t see why not, I could go for something different. Where at?” 

They got into the elevator and he hit the button for the ground floor. “This fried noodle place; It’s downtown, but it’s a quick cab ride. Straight shot from the plaza,” he insisted, reading her hesitation. 

“There’s noodle shops around the plaza though,” she pointed out. Usually, they stuck around the center plaza because it was right out front which meant they got to enjoy most of their hour. She didn’t particularly want to spend half her lunch just driving there and back. 

“I know but,” he faltered, laughing it off, “it’s fine, don’t worry about it. I’ll probably still go check it out, let you know if it was worth it at least.” 

V tried not to let him see her roll her eyes, slightly annoyed she was falling for that. “Fine, let’s go.” 

Masato let out a sigh of relief. “Preem, ‘cause I really didn’t want to eat lunch by myself.” 

At least he was right about the ride; it was a straight shot from the plaza and just under a ten-minute cab ride. The place was almost a dive which was probably why there wasn’t much of a lunch rush, but that also meant they didn’t have to wait for a spot to sit, so there’s that. They got their food and conversation flowed like it normally did; between bites and mouthfuls of noodles. Though for some reason he kind of seemed... nervous? That’s when she remembered the comment Jackie made about him hitting on her and she almost felt bad. Was she really that dense? She made a mental note about not doing one-on-one lunches ever again. 

She tried to keep the conversation going like normal which was easy enough once he started talking about the factory, like he usually seemed to default back to, since that was the main thing they had in common she guessed. “You ever miss it?” 

“The factory?” V made a bad attempt to hide her aversion. “I mean, not really. I didn’t mind the work though.” 

It sounded like someone dropped a plate in the kitchen behind her and it drew her attention from the conversation for a moment. A quick peek around showed most of the lunch crowd had left out, but they still had maybe ten minutes before they needed to worry about wrapping up. 

“It just... kind of had its own sense of family I guess,” he continued after peeking over her shoulder at the commotion. 

She scoffed at that. “I still doubt we worked at the same spot, there was hardly a _familial_ feel there.” 

“No, we definitely did,” he insisted. “I actually took over a friend’s spot; they offered it to me before they put it out for anyone else.” 

“Oh.” That didn’t really make sense since the hiring list was about a mile long, so they just went down the line not really caring who was next. “How’d you get his spot? Did he move to one of the other factories, or get scouted like we did?” she half joked. 

V heard the swinging doors of the kitchen, and Masato's gaze flickered briefly over her shoulder again. “No uh, you killed him.” 

Her face fell. “What?” 

* * *

To say he was infuriated was an understatement. 

It took some extra effort on his part, his system warnings telling him due to loss in hydraulic pressure, but he managed to stomp his way over to the service elevator in the AV garage. Adam seethed as he rode it down to the mech bay, thinking over the events of the job he’d just finished. Could have been recklessness on his part, but one of the pesky meatbags managed to get behind him in the firefight and got a lucky shot in that must’ve nicked one of the hoses. 

He arrived to a loaded floor; each station occupied by a mech. All except one. Instead, that so-called supervisor stood at the girl’s workbench, arms crossed and looking like he was actually expecting him. Adam made a mental note to figure out how exactly he knew when he was coming later. 

“What’s your excuse for her this time?” he snapped, stopping just in front of him. 

He hesitated a moment. “Don’t know, she still hasn’t come back from her break.” When Adam didn’t respond he continued, “you can wait to see if she gets back soon or-” 

Adam snatched him up by the front of his shirt and brought him up to eye-level, the rage he came in with slowly boiling over. Stopping in for repairs was inconvenience enough in his schedule, now this meatbag was suggesting he wait further? 

“Or, or, w-wait, wait,” he stammered, “I was going to say, or I can have one of the other guys help you. Felix, in one, he’s done work for you before.” 

Holding him suspended for another moment, Adam looked down the row of stations before dropping him to his feet. The supervisor took a second to straighten out his shirt before calling for the ‘Felix’ fucker to come over to the empty station. Oh, he remembered this one. Particularly, he remembered crushing that left arm without so much as a thought. 

He tried to seem impassive as he walked into the station, going to the workbench and grabbing the tools he needed to replace the fluid line before approaching him. 

Adam grabbed his right arm before he could walk behind him, causing him to flinch and drop a couple of the tools. “Fuck around, and I’m taking this one next,” he threatened. 

He just nodded, so Adam released him and let him get to work. 

He worked relatively quick, though he was still clumsy, but Adam disregarded most of the commotion around him as he watched the elevator, waiting for the second those doors opened and the girl came stepping off. Waiting to see the fear that would flash across her face once she saw him. He thought about all the things he could do to her for making him waste his time with this other pathetic meatbag, his temps rising with each minute that passed, leaving his systems fighting to reestablish equilibrium. 

She still hadn’t arrived by the time the repairs were done and everything had circulated and restabilized. The supervisor, who’d been keeping an eye out the entire time, came back down to the workstation just as repairs were finishing up. Adam waited expectantly as he approached. 

“I haven’t been able to get a hold of her or Masato, I don’t know-” 

Adam pushed past him, not needing to hear any more. He hadn’t notice that earlier; there was still a mech in that station but the meat was nowhere to be found. So, not only did she push him off onto that other meatbag, but she wasted his time with _that_ useless fuck? And now here he was, about to waste even more time hunting down the intolerable cunt. Though, maybe it won’t be such a waste if he gets to teach her a lesson. 

The thought almost made him look forward to finding her now as he got onto the elevator, an encrypted line already open to one of the Arasaka runners he kept under his thumb. “Find her,” he ordered, schedule be damned. 

* * *

V tried not to wince as she came to, but the throbbing in the back of her head was making that more than a little difficult. She refrained from opening her eyes just yet, system warnings flickering behind her eyelids as she attempted to get her bearings. She was sitting up, her hands bound behind her to the chair she was in, head lolled forward and feeling like it was absolutely _splitting._

_Ok, yea. Got that._

Was she still wearing her cap though? She couldn’t tell, but she also couldn’t hear anything that indicated there was anyone around her, so she tried to peek through her lashes just in case. That proved to be a mistake as she looked past her lap and noticed a pair of boots just in front of her. 

“Wakey, wakey,” a male voice taunted. 

_Fuck_. 

She closed her eyes again and took a deep breath, letting it out with a groan. “Fucking cheap,” she muttered. 

“What’s that, sweetheart?” he asked, bending down to be level with her, his face close to hers. 

She finally lifted her head to face him, though she found she didn’t recognize him. Her eyes flickered around the room then; she was in some kind of warehouse garage with a couple lifts off to one side and an office area on the far opposite side, but other than some random junk littered along the walls it was fairly barren. 

And he was the only one in there with her. 

“I said, who got the cheap shot on me?” she asked slowly, trying to prepare herself. 

He smiled slyly. “That would be me.” 

She hesitated for just a second before jerking forward suddenly, headbutting the guy right in the nose. 

“Fuck!” he reeled back, hands going to his face. 

Cursing as she struggled to break the restraints, she came to the conclusion her multitool implant probably wasn’t going to do her any good here – or anywhere outside of work, really – and the one gorilla arm mod in her right arm wasn’t as effective in breaking her binds without its pair. _Slight_ oversights she realized, maybe a little too late as the came back at her, throwing his whole body into the punch that connected with her nose and sent her toppling over in the chair. 

“Hey- hey!” someone else hollered, and she heard a couple new sets of footsteps approaching quickly. 

Blinking a couple times to clear the blurriness from her vision, she felt two sets of hands grabbing her arms and yanking her and the chair upright again. She could feel the blood running freely from her nose, and trying to scrunch it let her know really quick it was broken, but she probably didn’t look much worse than him. 

_Fair is fair, I guess._

“Fuckin’ cool it!” one of the new guys shoved the one she headbutted, then he did a couple double-takes between the two of them. 

Wait, now _that_ guy she thinks she recognizes. 

He must’ve seen it on her face too as he pulled up a chair in front of her. “Ivy, Ivy, Ivy...,” he drawled, “long time no see.” 

Oh yea, she remembered this asshole. She wanted to scrunch her nose in disgust at his use of her name, but for obvious reasons... 

So, she fired back. “Cristopher. How’s it hangin’?” She asked modestly enough, purposely refusing to use his self-given nickname; Topher, or something like that? 

His smug expression fell and she really started fearing for the state of her nose when he stood up and paced a couple steps, but he didn’t come back to hit her. “Still a mouthy little bitch, huh?” he spat as he sat back down in front of her. 

She didn’t say anything, instead taking the time to look between each of them around her. She remembered Topher from her factory days, the other two not so much, but with the way they all dressed she’d put eddies down that they were with sixth street. 

That’s when she realized someone was missing. “Wait, the guy I was with, where is he?” They all shared looks amongst each other which didn’t set well with her. “Where’s Masato?!” 

The guy she headbutted chuckled and Topher shook his head. “Oh, he’ll be back shortly.” 

It hit her then, what Masato said just before everything went dark. He knew about Bryce but she wasn’t sure how since she highly doubted his ‘they were friends’ story, but was he in on this? Was he just collateral damage? 

A door opened loudly somewhere back in the office area, drawing all of their attention. As if on cue, Masato entered the warehouse, refusing to meet V’s glare as he approached. She would have continued to stare daggers at him until he did, if she hadn’t noticed who walked in behind him. 

Two more sixth street members, one of them being none other than Bryce himself. The guy she’d supposedly killed- well, tried to kill. Thought she killed? 

_What the hell is going on?_

He didn’t give her time to figure it out, winding back as he approached and throwing a punch that, thankfully, caught her jaw this time, sending her falling over in the chair again. 

They righted her again, and Bryce shoved Topher so he could sit in the chair across from her, his previous scowl now replaced with a shit-eating grin. “Surprise.” V took a moment to work her jaw around, returning his stare in silence. When she didn’t say anything, his grin faded to a sly smirk. “What, not happy to see me?” 

“No,” she said flatly. 

“Well,” he cocked his head to the side, “I’m happy to see you. I got back to work after a short recovery and it was like you disappeared.” 

“Yea, that was kind of the point.” She paused, figuring at this point she was just buying herself only a little more time. She knew she was fucked. “How did you recover anyway?” 

He shrugged. “Guess I got lucky you were a bad shot.” 

She scoffed at that. “I shot you twice in the chest-” 

Bryce surged forward, grabbing the seat of her chair as he got in her face. “Should’ve gone for the head,” he growled through clenched teeth. Trying not to flinch away from him, she bit the insides of her cheeks to keep quiet. He sort of composed himself again, sitting back in his chair after a moment. “No, some of these fine gentlemen here just happened upon me in that alleyway. Got me to their ripper in time.” 

“Lucky you,” she muttered. 

“Yea, but then I came back to find you were already gone.” He sounded disappointed, and V could only imagine why. 

Her eyes flickered over to Masato again, standing off to the side behind the rest of them, the question burning in her mind. “So, how does _he_ fit into all this? He’s clearly not with sixth street.” 

Bryce ignored the question though, leaning against the back of his chair with an impressed sigh. “Arasaka though, that’s quite the promotion. Moving onto bigger and better things, huh?” 

“It’s alright,” she offered, trying not to show her irritation with his diversion. 

“Gotta have its perks, right?” he asked, looking like he was really trying to fight the devious grin that threatened to split his face. “Trauma card and all? You gotta get at least a basic plan, right? Bet that comes in handy.” 

She couldn’t roll her eyes any harder. “Yea, real handy, when I don’t have a jammer slotted into my head.” 

And there it was, that cheeky fucking grin. “Clever, right?” 

“So clever...” 

“Almost as clever as getting Masato’s help,” he said, finally grabbing her attention. “After I learned you were at Arasaka I figured you were done and gone, no way to give you my congratulations or goodbyes,” he turned to look at Masato, “until that same suit you hung around showed up again and started talking him up.” 

V followed his gaze, staring down Masato even though he still refused to look at her. 

“It was actually really easy to convince him to help us out,” Bryce laughed. “We may have hit a rough patch or two, but we figured it out.” 

“He found out what a psychopath you are?” she quipped. 

“Nah,” he chuckled. “Just a sucker for a pretty face, but we’ll fix that soon.” 

“Oh yea? Gonna make him kill me as some kind of initiation then?” she guessed, figuring they were using him with the idea of eventually inducting him in, or just as punishment for his irresolution. 

“Oh, no,” Bryce shifted forward excitedly, “when the time comes, that’s my job.” He leaned in just a little more, lowering his voice. “But I’m going to do so much more than that.” 

She tried to remain impassive at his growing smirk. 

_Fuck_. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OKAY - so whoever got a hold of my notes and started making predictions back in chapter 4, you really gave me a heart attack 🤣 I was like ohhhh nooooo, do I still do it? Should I change it??? I was so stumped haha but I hope I at least got some of you with Masato 😏  
> I also really hope Smasher's pov this time wasn't too confusing, I didn't realize how hard it would be to write for someone who can't be bothered with the meatbags' names 🙄 can always go back to edit for clarification


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like my pre-chapter notes get longer and longer haha, but thank you guys so much for being patient with me. I want to try to stick with the 3 day turnover time that I kinda started with, but I feel like the last couple days there was always *something * that came up and kept me away, but this chapter is a little longer so I hope that makes up for it. And you guys that started commenting on the last chapter like, just a couple hours after I posted it, y'all are nuts haha but I heckin' love all of you ❤ It makes me feel so good that you guys are eagerly awaiting updates
> 
> ALSO, I've updated the warning 'cause you already know Smasher's bouta have some *fun* 
> 
> Also, also, Toxic Dachshund, I realize I use a long of slang terms and sayings, so if you ever need any clarification on something for translation PLEASE don't hesitate to reach out :) I can get you my email or whatever works for you
> 
> And thanks again DarkWolf101 for talking through things with me when my brain went mush ❤

The netrunner popped up on his holo as the AV flew over Santo Domingo. “Last ping was from Arroyo, north-east side.” 

“That’s all you came up with?” he said flatly, unimpressed. 

“Half the district is failing, that includes their networks,” he offered, to which Adam replied with an irritated groan. “I’ll see if I can use any of the surrounding-” 

Cutting the call, he opened up the side hatch of the AV to survey the surrounding area. A couple Megabuildings occupied this side of the district, along with Arasaka’s own factory in the distance. Commanding the pilots to take the AV down, he waited until they were hovering just above some old factory buildings to jump out, hitting the ground with a heavy thud. 

A quick scan of the immediate area came up with nothing, but between the next set of buildings he came across a group that scattered as soon as they saw him. Smart choice, but it caught the attention of a group further down the alleyway. Their scans indicated affiliations with the local gang, not that they were any kind of threat to him, but there was nothing of interest in that direction so he moved on anyway. 

His patience was really starting to wear down as any local network he could find pinged no one of significance, just more of that pathetic excuse for a gang, when the runner came up on his holo again. “Warehouse garage, west of your location, but there’s-” 

Adam cut the call short, already heading in that direction. Turning down another alleyway, he made it about halfway before a group of four rounded the corner, standing at the end to cut him off. He actually huffed out a laugh, though it sounded distorted and wrong. They couldn’t really be trying to intimidate him, could they? 

“Looks like Arasaka lost their guard dog,” one of them called out. He raised his shotgun slightly, though not leveling it at him, when he didn’t stop advancing. “Fuckin’ corpo asshole...” 

The rest of them followed suit and took aim at him and Adam found himself walking just a bit faster, finally having something to look forward to. Some of them took several steps back but one foolishly stood ground, firing three shots until he realized they were ricocheting off his chest plate. In two more strides he was close enough to sweep his arm across and hit the first meatbag with a backhand hard enough to send him into the wall, his head bouncing off of it with a sickening crack. Before the next one could swing his gun around, Adam grabbed the barrel of it and yanked it from his hands then grabbed his face and shoved him back into the opposite wall until he could feel his skull crack and give way in his grasp. 

He caught himself relishing the feel of it maybe a little too much as one of the last two started shooting at him, the bullets deflecting off the large shoulder guard. Though he was a little further away, Adam still only needed to take a couple steps to be able to swing the shotgun he was still holding, uppercutting the worthless meat with the butt of the gun and sending him sprawled on his back. The last guy turned to run and, though Adam had to catch himself, he let him get away. Maybe he’d call for backup, then he could really let himself get carried away. 

He approached the pathetic meatbag struggling on his back, towering over him as the group of three he’d noticed before rounded the corner... just in time to see Adam crush his head under his foot. Their commotion drew his attention as they took cover behind dumpsters and in doorways and started firing at him, most of the shots bouncing off his armored plating or missing him all together. Not bothering to run back to the other end of the alley, he readied the projectile launcher on his shoulder, sending three micromissiles that rendered their cover practically useless as they blew up at their feet. 

He stood in the quiet that followed for a moment, until even that was ruined by the runner he was starting to lose patience for. “Arasaka’s factory is just a couple blocks away, should I alert-” 

“Do that, and I’ll end you next,” he snapped, continuing towards the garage with a renewed energy. 

“I’ll tell them not to bother you then...” 

He followed the path between warehouse buildings, only coming across a couple smaller groups along the way. None of them offered anything too exciting, though one of the meatbags thought it’d be a good idea to charge at him with nothing but a bat. He enjoyed slamming him into the wall with his shoulder, holding him there and slowly leaning into him more and more, until he felt his ribs crack and heard his final gurgled breath. 

The rest of their weak resistance seemed to be setup along the side of the building; there were cars parked around trailers and in front of the row of closed garage doors, and the meat cowered behind them with their useless weapons trained on him. If anything, at least the number of them gave him something to look forward to, the previous skirmishes building up an anticipation for something more... worthwhile. 

Their bullets started flying and he used his arm mounted helix to shred through the first car he saw, some of the meatbags managing to scatter and hide behind more cover. A couple shots hit higher up on his chest, and turning to find the source showed two of them peeking out from behind one of the trailers. Launching a small volley of missiles seemed to fix that, sending them staggering though not fast enough to escape the explosion. Walking between each of the cars he mowed down anyone in sight or grabbed anyone within reach, and when he noticed some of them making a retreat into the building he shot a couple missiles at the side door for good measure. After stepping around one of the cars, someone who was still taking cover tried to run off around him but he was quick to snag the back of their jacket, hurling them back around and crushing them into the side of the car. 

This... this is what he needed, and he only grew more eager knowing there were more still inside. A quick look around showed their numbers dwindling, most of them having retreated or run off completely if they weren’t already dead on the ground. Though, he did spot a couple heads peeking out from behind a car he hadn’t blown up or shredded yet. 

He'd have to take care of that. 

* * *

Bryce was still sat across from her, staring and making her more uneasy by the second, when they heard the first explosions off in the distance. All of them turned to look in the general direction of where they came from, and Topher got a call then that he stepped away to take. 

Bryce looked like he was trying not to take his eyes off her, barely turning his head to call over his shoulder when he thought the call was taking too long. “Were those ours?” 

Topher didn’t answer him immediately, mumbling something before cutting the feed and walking back over. “We have to go.” 

Bryce looked back to her before shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly. “Welp, guess we’re going.” 

She wasn’t really sure if she’d rather stay with the explosions, but she was damn sure she didn’t want to go anywhere with him. 

As if reading her mind, when he walks around behind her he leans over her shoulder to speak right in her ear. “Behave yourself now,” he warned, though there was something else in his tone, like he was daring her not to. 

“No promises,” she mutters as he gets to untying her hands from the chair. 

“No, nuh-uh,” Topher interjected, coming over to grab Bryce’s shoulder. “She came from Arasaka right?” 

He wasn’t able to finish that thought before the shooting started just outside with louder returning fire followed by another explosion. It didn’t take long before people were running in through the side office, some of them filing into the garage while others just kept running. 

“Hey, get them back in here!” Bryce shot up, shouting to the closest group. A few of them turned to go back in until a pair of missiles rocked the front of the room. Topher tried to organize the rest of them around the garage while the commotion raged on outside, and V attempted to be discreet in her shifting, trying to play with the already loosened binds just a bit more before they both regrouped back at her. “We’re getting the hell out,” he said in a hushed voice, nodding to Topher. 

It got quiet for a moment, long enough for her to wonder if it was actually over. Bryce must’ve been thinking the same thing as he stopped fidgeting with her ties and slowly stood up behind her. The horrible sound of metal being ripped apart resounded in the room as something came crashing through the furthest garage door, leaving behind a large hole in the middle. Most of the gang members on that side had cleared out of the way, but the idiot she headbutted was over there, slowly creeping towards whatever it was despite several others around telling him not to. 

“Fu-fuck, I think that’s Trev-” He didn’t have a second to finish the thought before another missile came shooting in, effectively reducing him to chunks. 

There was barely enough time to react to the barrage of bullets that came next, everyone hitting the floor as they pelted through the garage doors, working their way down the line. V had only seconds to kick herself over in the chair, toppling onto her side before the bullets sprayed overhead. Topher didn’t make it, and Bryce scrambled to his feet deciding now was a good time to get the fuck out of there. 

“Get back here you fucking coward!” V yelled after him, fighting harder now to slip through the loosened binds. After all this, there was no way she was letting him get away. 

It took a couple seconds but she managed to get one arm free and use it to untangle her other hand. Most of the people left in the building had gotten up by now and were returning fire so she crawled to the back of the room, grabbing a crowbar she came across next to one of the lifts as she went by. The back door she saw Bryce running for was more towards the center of the garage which meant possibly putting herself in the line of sight coming from the door with the gaping hole in it, so she crouched along the back wall, moving as quickly as she could and staying low. She caught a brief glimpse of Masato who was ducked behind some old tool boxes, and as much as she wanted to run out into the middle of the fray just to get to him, he wasn’t her biggest target. She’d almost made it to the door now when the sound of metal being crushed caught her attention, and turning to see what caused it almost froze her on the spot. 

Smasher stepped on the edge of the ripped door, crushing it down to create a big enough opening for him to stoop through. All she could think was what the hell was he even doing there? Was he running an op? Even if he was, who the hell would send him after some lowly gang? She imagined his clientele was a little more esteemed than that. Whatever the reason, she forced herself to move forward, throwing herself through the door even after his gaze fell on her. It took her into a small storage area, and she ran through it towards the exit when an explosion went off behind her, throwing her forward into the door. 

V took a second to shake herself out of it, looking behind her to see the doorway blown apart and blocked by debris. _Did he just... did he just fucking shoot a rocket at me?!_

With no time to dwell on it, she yanked the door open and ran out into an alleyway. There was another door a little further down the next building that was still open, so she made a break for it thinking that’s where Bryce probably headed. Entering through the office area, a quick look around showed another door still swung open. She ran to it, a fleeting thought of taking the jammer out of her head so she could ping the area passed. Her vitals probably wouldn’t alert Trauma Team at this point, but she held off as she ran into the next room, opening up to a large storage area. Another quick look around came up with nothing, so she headed for an open doorway that looked like it led to more storage space. 

Something swung around from the other side and hit her, _hard,_ the crowbar falling from her hand as she landed sprawled on her back with a groan. Bryce came from around the corner, stepping around her to land a swift kick to her side. She let out a pained grunt, gasping to catch her breath before he kicked her in the jaw, sending her rolling onto her back again. 

He straddled her then, hands going for her throat. “I wasn’t going to rush this, but,” his hands squeezed tighter as she gripped his wrists, “this’ll just have to do.” 

She choked for air, struggling to break his grasp until realization hit her. Letting her right arm fall away, she clenched her first and sent a blow directly to his temple, sending him reeling off of her. Her throat burned as air quickly reentered her lungs, and she tried to get her coughing and sputtering under control as she reached for the crowbar and got to her feet. 

Bryce went for one of her legs then, and she sent the other foot right at his jaw. He rolled onto his back with a howl and she swung the crowbar overhead, bringing it down across his stomach. That left him a coughing, groaning mess on the floor, so V took a second to catch her breath. Something made her bring her hand up to touch the bridge of her nose; it wasn’t _too_ crooked, but fuck did it hurt. 

He managed to roll on his side to face her, so she made sure to send the next kick straight to his nose. “Fucking...” she kicked him again, “asshole!” 

Rolling onto his back, she let him lay there sputtering for a moment while she weighted the crowbar in her hand. After all the shit he’s put her through, and everything that culminated into the stunt he tried to pull in that alleyway that made her shoot him in the first place, she knew she needed to finish what she started. 

He forced a chuckle, and she looked at him to find he was already staring at her, waiting for her to make a move. “You really think I’m gonna let you kill me?” 

It was then that she noticed he had his arm tucked behind him, and she should have figured he wasn’t completely unarmed. He was probably expecting her to try to swing the crowbar again, not thinking that once he made a move to draw his pistol, she’d be ready to just kick it from him hand. He could only give her a knowing look in the second it took her to raise the crowbar overhead before bringing it down with a heavy swing. 

* * *

Adam watched the life slowly leave the eyes of the meatbag whose chest he currently had his fist buried in. The shooting had ceased, but he knew he left one alive somewhere; he made sure to not let them get away, taking care of the exit when they tried to follow the girl out. 

A quick scan of the room showed him cowering behind the same large metal toolbox from before. Throwing the body aside, Adam moved towards him, kicking the box into him hard enough to send him sprawled out on the ground and causing it to fall on top of him. He feebly crawled out from under it and Adam reached down to pick him up by the throat, raising him to eye level. 

It was the same meatbag from the mech bay, the one that didn’t return with the girl. He didn’t scan as having any affiliations to the petty gang, but the urge to kill him regardless tugged at his mind. Arasaka’s voiced their... dissatisfaction of his killing of employees before, for whatever reason, though they still had no problem requesting his services. The way he saw it, the girl had wasted too much time with this one anyway. So, without a word he slowly closed his hand tighter and tighter, ignoring his pointless attempts to plead and struggle as he cut off his airway, squeezing further until he felt the snap of his neck all together. 

He took in the silence for a few seconds longer, his internals finally stabilizing. Remembering what he came out for in the first place, he discarded the body and made his way to the blocked doorway, kicking through the debris and exiting into the alley. That’s where his audio receptors picked up on the sounds of a struggle inside the next building, so he followed them through an office area where the beginnings of heavy thudding could be heard and towards an adjacent storage room where he found a little more than he was expecting. 

Adam stopped just outside the doorway as she brought down the crowbar with a heavy swing, and though he couldn’t see what was on the receiving end of the blows, he knew the sound of bone crunching when he heard it. She swung it down again, and again, and then it became apparent she wasn’t stopping anytime soon. Even when it was clear she was wearing out, her breath coming out in ragged huffs, she kept swinging. 

Of course, he didn’t care about why she was out here, but it was apparent he got to take it out on the ones actually responsible for him having to hunt her down, allowing him to blow off enough steam to almost find the sight amusing. Still, a small part of him wanted to take something out on her. 

She stopped then, finally straightening to catch her breath. He didn’t allow her too much time to recuperate, ducking to take a heavy step through the doorway and drawing her attention. Nearly jumping out of her skin she turned to face him, chest heaving as she attempted to steady her breathing. Blood was splattered over the top half of her, though it wasn’t hers; hers was dried and smeared down from her nose, bruising visible across the bridge and threatening to reach under her eyes. It was the fear in those eyes that topped it all off for him. Even if he decided he wouldn’t kill her this time, he didn’t necessarily have to relay that information. 

Even if that fear flickered with the slightest hint of anger. “Did you- did you shoot a rocket at me?!” she questioned, as if she senselessly thought he wouldn’t. 

Apparently, she wasn’t scared enough. He’d have to fix that. 

Another heavy step into the room and she crumbled again. “I-I mean, thanks for the assist and all, but-” 

“I wouldn’t thank me just yet,” he warned, taking a step around the crates. She dropped the crowbar at her feet where he finally spotted the sorry meatbag she pulverized. He continued to stalk towards her slowly, causing her to take instinctive steps back like he wanted. “I don’t think you understood the terms of the arrangement.” 

When she got far enough away from the doorway to realize her mistake, he saw her eyeing the crates next to her. Practically reading the plan on her face, he lunged for her just as she went to jump over them in a wasted effort put distance between herself and him. Grabbing her by the ankle, Adam dragged her back towards him, leaving her hanging over the edge of the crates as he leaned over her, caging her in with his arms braced on either side of her. 

“At your disposal, how the hell could I forget?” she snapped desperately, turning her head to the side though she couldn’t really make eye contact with him looming over her, “but it wasn’t my fault-” 

Adam slammed his right fist onto the crate next to her head, almost splintering the wood and causing her to flinch away. She froze then, and he couldn’t help but be reminded of a similar incident of theirs. “You’re of no use to me if you can’t be reliable,” he said plainly, ignoring her protests. 

“I wasn’t- I’m not with those assholes!” As hard as she tried to hide it, he could easily pick up on the faltering in her voice. She could attempt to keep up her façade of toughness or bravery, whatever the hell she wanted to call it, but he enjoyed the fact that he could make it all fall apart so easily... maybe a little too much. 

“I told you what happens when you outlive your usefulness.” His voice dipped dangerously low as his other hand came up to grip the back of her neck, causing her to inhale sharply. She was trembling already, seemingly given up trying to plead her case. 

_Good_. 

* * *

_‘Disposing of you is exactly what I'll do.’_

No, she doesn’t think she’ll ever not hear that in the back of her mind. The déjà vu of the entire situation hit her like a ton of bricks, especially the fear of him finally deciding he was done with her shit. 

_This is_ _it;_ _this is where I bite it._

V wished he wouldn't drag it out like this though, recalling how he loomed over her the same way last time, leaving her in an uneasy state of dread. She focused on his fist clenched mere inches in front of her face, trying not to anticipate when the grip on the back of her neck would finally constrict. So, when the pressure lessened before becoming absent all together... well, it’s not that she wasn’t relieved but definitely more so confused. 

“Could just find another use for you,” he seemed to mull over. 

She lifted her head from the surface of the crate a fraction of an inch to try to turn towards him further, unsure of what that could mean for her. When his hand was suddenly grasping at the back of her jumpsuit, still bunched and tied loosely at her waist, she was at a loss. He couldn’t possibly mean- 

Without much of a warning he yanked her jumpsuit down over her hips, snagging her underwear along with it, and she almost didn’t catch herself from going with them; one hand shooting up to grab the edge of the crate, the other instinctively wrapping around his right arm still by her head. 

Panic rose in her chest, making her throat feel tight to the point of not being able to speak. _No, no, no, no, no, this can’t be what he meant._ Not that she didn’t think it could be... possible, but coming from _him_? She let go as if the metal burned her once she registered what she did, instead bracing her hand against the wooden surface to try to push herself away from him. 

The bruising grip he grabbed her waist with to still her did just that. “Unless you prefer the alternative.” 

That might have been laughable had this been literally any other situation; he’d already made it painstakingly clear that she didn’t have a say, and she stilled as she struggled to come to terms with that fact _again_. He must’ve taken that as acceptance though – or, more likely, he didn’t care either way – as she felt him at her entrance a second later. 

Panic rose again as she knew she wasn’t ready, and she could probably never be ready for the pressure of him absolutely stretching her as he plunged into her fully, forcing the air from her lungs in a strangled cry. She’s reminded again of the state of her nose as her face scrunches up in pain, and she actually tries to focus on that as he wastes no time in withdrawing almost completely only to drive back into her with just as much force, almost crushing her hips against the crate. He retreats again and she thinks she can feel something cool already starting to run down the insides of her thighs, but she doesn’t have time to wonder what it is before he’s thrusting back into her, pulling another cry from her and causing her mind to go blank. 

He keeps up his steady, deliberate pace, and V finds herself only able to focus on getting her breaths in before he pounds them out of her, essentially leaving her a whining, gasping mess. Though, there finally came a point when he seemed to have carved out enough space in her, the pressure of being overfilled slowly ebbing and allowing her just a moment of respite; a moment to find just the tiniest bit of pleasure in it, her cries sounding less and less pained with each thrust. 

No, no, this was _wrong_. There should be no pleasure to be had, especially not with him, not after forcing this on her. 

She scrunched up her nose again, needing the pain to distract her from focusing on the pleasure that may or may not have started building. Definitely shouldn’t be thinking of the grip he still had on her waist, or just how deep he was punching into her. 

The first whine that escaped her sounding a little more desperate than pained had her hand shooting to cover her mouth, but if the low hum that came from him was any indication, he definitely heard it. She wasn’t prepared for the harsh change of pace, his thrusts becoming merciless as he pushed to reach deeper, and she had to uncover her mouth to hook her arm around his again to anchor herself for fear of him absolutely crushing her into the crate. That set free a new torrent of cries as she was left to readjust to the new onslaught, though she tried to clench her teeth to keep them from escaping. 

She found herself desperate for the pleasure to return then, needing something to mitigate the pressure of him reaching new depths within her. Thankfully it didn’t take as long to pick up on it building, and at this point she didn’t care how relieved her gasps sounded. The hold he had on her waist released for just a second before it found the back of her neck again and she caught herself holding her breath, though that became impossible as he continued to impale her. 

V was focused now, the pleasure settling comfortably in her core, finding herself scrunching her face more in concentration than pain. This was not where she thought she’d end up from the beginning, but now that she was here there was no sense in fighting it, pride be damned. She carefully buried her face in the crook of her arm, attempting to hide her panting as he battered her, focusing on just how close she was... 

Until he slammed into her sharply, reaching _too_ deep, and she had to bite her lip to keep the cry from tearing from her throat. Though clipped, she could feel the heavy groan he let out resound through her as he stopped his movements, and she let out a shaky breath as she lifted her head from her arm. 

Not that she was really expecting him to linger, but a surprised hiss left her when he pulled out abruptly, leaving behind a rather obvious feeling of emptiness. She however was not in the same kind of rush, opting to stay right where she was to catch her breath, unashamedly on display as he rose upright and stepped back from her. 

Little too late for embarrassment now. 

Again, she wasn’t expecting much, so she figured it was pretty on par for him to just... leave without a word. That’s fine. It was fine. She wanted to recupe in peace anyway, so she took the time she needed to steady her breathing, slowly easing weight onto her shaky legs as she attempted to stretch them out. Not feeling quite ready to scrape herself up just yet, she tried to at least reach behind her to pull her clothing up over her hips, an aggravated huff leaving her when she couldn’t. 

V gave herself another couple minutes before peeling herself up from the surface of the crate, leaning heavily into it for support as she worked her underwear back up and pulled on her jumpsuit, opting to zip it up most of the way to cover her blood-splattered t-shirt. Her peaceful recuperation turned seething as she eyed Bryce’s body laying maybe ten feet away, finally ripping the jammer from her head and giving her system a chance to refresh before making a call. 

Jackie popped up on the holo, his smile flashing for the briefest moment before worry took over. “Sweet fucking Jesus V, what happened to you?” 

Oh yea, she forgot about her face. “Long story... can you-” she took a steadying breath, remembering he only had his Arch and there was _no way_ she was sitting on that, “fuck, you don’t have a car...” 

“I can get one, where are you?” 

She laid across the backseat while he drove her back to her apartment, filling him in on... most of the details. He knew about her past with Bryce so to say he was livid was an understatement, and to find out Masato actually was a part of all this... well, he got some satisfaction out of seeing both of their bodies at least, though she was a little surprised Masato's was among those scattered across the garage. 

He kept asking who could’ve done that to all those Sixth Street guys but she had to fluff that part; just said she didn’t know, Bryce had her in that back room the whole time. 

“Didn’t see anyone else, _hear_ anyone else?” he pressed. 

“No Jack,” V peeked out from under the arm she had draped over her eyes. “Only heard all the shooting and explosions. Bryce got distracted and I caught him off guard.” 

God, there was no way she could tell him what actually happened. 

He helped get her settled in back at her apartment, and she even got him to realign her nose for her before he left; not as simple a task as she was expecting, and even less pleasant. She took a quick shower and crawled under her blankets, but as much as she just wanted to sleep it was proving to be impossible. It took everything she had not to think back on the... events, or the ache between her legs. 

How the fuck was she supposed to work tomorrow? 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 😄😅😳😰


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Milder chapter but I feel like that's to be expected after all *that* 😅  
> BUT FRET NOT! Plans are coming together 👀👀👀
> 
> As always, y'all blow me away with your amazing support and encouragement ❤ Keep being awesome and I hope to keep delivering for you
> 
> Also just wanted to say I'm SUPER EXCITED to commission a piece from Relinaru for the fic! Please go find them at patreon.com/relina and show some support, they already have a Smasher sketch up and their style is AH-mazing! ❤

V didn’t even get the chance to open her eyes before her body started screaming at her. She let out a groan as she stretched across the bed, trying to work out the aches that settled into her muscles overnight; her side from being kicked, her face from being kicked _and_ punched, her thighs from- 

_Nope_. 

She shook her head to clear the thought. Swinging her legs over the edge of the bed, she rose gingerly on shaky legs, taking careful steps over to the bathroom to start her morning routine. Of course, she caught herself spending a little too much time in front of the mirror surveying the bruises that had a chance to really develop overnight. Mainly the one across her nose and under her eyes, along her jaw, on her ribs... then there was the darker bruise on her waist, and she caught herself turning her head slightly to see more of the one that reached from around the back of her neck. 

_Stop it._

With a deep breath she got herself ready for the day as fast as she could, consciously trying to move around more as she did to loosen up the tension in her muscles. She felt a little better by the time she left the apartment, and she was still feeling pretty good as she rode the elevator down to the sublevels, but for some reason she wanted to crumble as soon as the doors parted to the mech bay. Mostly everyone was still getting setup as she walked by, but she could still see glances thrown her way here and there as she made her way to the Lookout, and it was then that she realized she would need to get a new cap. 

Hank gave her a pitiful look as she entered the room and made her way over to his desk. “V...” 

She just shook her head, heaving a sigh as she rested her hip against the edge of his desk and crossed her arms. “So, you’ll never guess what happened.” 

“I’d say it looks like you made some new friends,” he said sarcastically, though the worried expression never left his face. 

“Actually,” she perked up in mock excitement, “I met up with an old one.” He stared at her blankly, so she finally continued when he wouldn’t bite. “No more recruiting from my old factory for a while, ‘kay?” 

Hank nodded in understanding, though he didn’t know details. “I’m guessing Masato’s worse off than you then since he hasn’t gotten in yet?” 

V sucked in a breath, holding it while she contemplated her next words. “He probably won't be coming in again...” 

He nodded solemnly. “Fuck...” 

_'Fuck’ was right._

She tried not to let her shock at the intrusive thought show on her face as Hank regarded her. “You gonna be ok today?” 

“So, remember how I said I didn’t want to do anymore inspections?” she started, hoping there might be some easier stuff for her to work on, but she got her answer in the look he gave her. 

“They all got finished up yesterday.” 

V let out a sigh before nodding and straightening up. “Yea, I’ll manage.” 

“If it gets to be too much just holler,” he called after her when she made for the door. 

Throwing a thumbs up over her shoulder, she exited the Lookout and carefully descended the stairs. Once back at her station she started to get her things in order, though she didn’t get much time to do that before Felix was approaching her. 

He stuttered a bit when she turned expectantly to him. “Shit, uh, hey V...” 

She flashed a forced smile. “Felix. What’s up?” 

“Well,” he hesitated, looking rather sorry, “I _was_ coming over to give you shit, but now I feel like a dick just thinking about it.” 

That made her raise an eyebrow. “Well, can’t leave me in suspense now,” she pressed. 

He huffed a weak laugh. “It’s stupid, really, I just had to take over for you yesterday when Smasher came in. I know you know why that’s less than ideal for me but-” 

“Wait,” she finally stopped him after her brain caught up with the words spewing from his mouth, “Smasher did come in yesterday?” 

“Yea, but it was fine it wasn’t anything-” 

She’d already tuned him out. 

So, he _did_ come in while she was otherwise occupied. That undoubtedly pissed him off so he... came to find her? He shot a rocket at her; he wasn’t there to just _find_ her. Obviously. So somewhere in there he just, what, decided instead of killing or hurting her he’d- 

_Nope, still not thinking about it._

V let out an aggravated huff then, realizing she was staring a hole through Felix’s chest with a frown plastered on her face. He must’ve stopped talking a while ago with the way he was just standing there watching her. 

“Sorry,” she finally offered, snapping out of her daze, “thank you though, for putting up with that, I’ll make it up to you-” 

“No worries, just, take care of yourself,” he said with a nod before taking a couple steps back and returning to his station. 

With a deep breath she turned back to her bench, making sure she was ready when her first mech approached. 

She was thankful the first couple were fairly simple repairs in some easy to reach places; a hydraulic and hose here, some plating there. The third one unfortunately involved some awkward climbing to get on top of, but once she got situated as comfortably as she could, she was okay. She started off well enough, falling into her usual rhythm, until she fumbled a piece she needed and could only watch as it fell to the ground. Frowning down at it, she started to shift to jump down until the soreness in her legs reminded her that probably wasn’t the best idea. 

_Unfuckingbelievable_ _._

Unbelievable was right. 

_Why me?_

And here it comes. 

V pressed the heels of her hands over her eyes until she started to see spots dancing behind her eyelids, as if that would erase the image of him slowly advancing towards her or what she could barely see of him out of the corner of her eye as he overshadowed her. The aching between her legs ignited anew as the thought took her back to those moments under him right before he- 

“V, you good?” 

She startled, hands bracing at her sides to keep from falling off the top of the mech. Roy was in his station next to hers, tinkering with something at his bench and watching her with a perplexed expression. 

“Yea, Yea, I’m good,” she blurted, rubbing at her eyes a little more gently this time and blinking away the fuzziness. 

He nodded in hesitant acknowledgment before getting back to his task, and she figured it was time she to back to hers. It took her a little longer, as she came to the conclusion that climbing down onto the catwalk first was the smarter option, but she eventually was able to get down to retrieve the piece she dropped, get back up, and resume the repairs. 

Able to fall back into a rhythm without her thoughts drifting too much, the rest of the day went by relatively quick, as well as the next day. She knew that would come to a screeching halt though as the weekend came up, leaving her without anything to really keep herself distracted. Jackie invited her out for drinks on Saturday, prefacing that he understood if she wasn’t feeling up to it. At first, she didn’t think she was; still looking very much the worse for wear, she was also still feeling achy and just generally cruddy. However, she knew she’d much rather be in his company than left to her own, so she threw on some casual bar clothes and made for Lizzie’s. 

She approached their corner booth, reaching to clasp his outstretched hand when he pulled her in for an all-enveloping hug, without squeezing her too tight, and she could have melted and told him everything right then. 

V took a deep breath before he released her. “Thanks, I needed that.” 

“I could tell hermana, how ya feeling?” he asked as they got situated. 

She tried to hide what remaining stiffness she had as she slowly eased herself into the booth. “Little better each day.” 

He eyed her suspiciously but didn’t question it. “Good to hear.” Waving over for their first round, Jackie wasted no time in getting straight to it. “Some of the Valentino boys went over to Arroyo to ah, check things out, back at the...” he trailed off and V just nodded along. “Right. They said everything seemed quiet, considering.” 

“Figured the rest of Sixth would be all on the place.” They at least had plenty of time to come running after the fact. 

“Could’ve just been Bryce calling in a favor for a little extra muscle. Not like he needed the whole gang’s help, though he still had a good number of them,” he pondered aloud as their drinks arrived. “Was there anyone else there you recognized from the factory?” 

“Just Topher, but you saw the garage,” she said casually, tossing back her drink without waiting. 

Jackie just shook his head. “Still can’t figure out who went through all them like that. Sure as shit wasn’t any Valentinos, and there wasn't one body out there that wasn’t Sixth Street...” 

She was picturing him so clearly in her mind that she was surprised Jackie couldn’t see him reflected in her eyes. “No idea.” 

He saw _something_ in them at least, making him down his drink and wave it off. “Ah, forget it. You’re here and they’re not. That’s all that matters to me.” 

Flashing the briefest smile, she waved over for their next round. “Not getting rid of me that easy.” 

They finished their night out as normally as possible and V returned to her quiet apartment ready to get right to sleep, spending the least amount of time alone with her thoughts as possible. It worked well enough until she awoke in the early morning hours just before dusk with more than just an ache between her legs. 

Rolling onto her stomach with a frustrated groan she squeezed her thighs shut, feeling the slickness that had begun to escape. In her sleepy haze she couldn’t really recall if she had been dreaming, but it must’ve been something. Reluctantly she slipped her hand between herself and the mattress, letting it pass down across her navel and over her mound, her fingers delving to find just how absolutely soaked she was. 

_Fuck it._

Figuring she could just rub one off really quick and go back to sleep, she spread her legs and propped herself up on her knees, canting her hips just enough to give her hand some room to work with. It didn’t take long to work herself up, her legs already starting to tremble with every other pass over the sensitive bud. She went to turn her head into the sheets to stifle the moans that wanted to escape but her nose was still too sore for that, so she just let them go. With the grogginess of sleep slowly receding though, she should have known what her mind was going to drift to as her orgasm built, but she pushed herself through it refusing to be denied her release _again_. 

She lay there lightly panting as she came down, her mind still racing and fully aware of what she’s been trying to deny every time the intrusive thoughts flooded her head. As much as she should, she didn’t entirely, completely, whole-heartedly hate the events that happened in that storage room. 

It scared her and pissed her off at the same time. 

The next week and a half went by well enough for V; she looked – and felt – less and less like she was hit by a truck, and it was _quiet._ Hank had yet to find anyone to take Masato’s place, so the empty workstation served as a not-so-gentle reminder each time she went by, but she was getting better at ignoring it and then not letting it bother her all together. 

She found Hank through the glass of the lookout as she walked to her station, seemingly out of habit as she felt it get closer to the time a certain cyborg should be making his visit. He gave her an acknowledging nod in response, a subtle ‘all clear’ that let her breathe a little easier as she got ready for the morning. 

_Made it another day._

* * *

“I don’t know who, I s-swear!” he croaked out through the grip Adam had on his throat. 

He dangled him just outside the large shutter doors of the AV garage, some seventy stories or so over the rest of the city. Determined to get to the bottom of who’d been giving the heads up of his arrivals, he started to loosen his grip, leaving the meatbag to grasp desperately at his arm. 

“Well, you’re the one in _charge up_ here, aren’t you?” he spat, as if any of the worthless meat could be left in charge of anything. 

“Nonononono, well- I'm not the only one who knows when you’re coming back,” he blurted, eyes flicking wildly around the open air around him. 

Adam held him there for a few seconds longer, very seriously considering dropping him and being done with it. Though, if it weren’t actually this one then he wouldn’t be able to pass along the message to whoever it was, and he surely didn’t want to have to waste more time on the rest of them. He’d much sooner throw them all out of the garage, though the Arasakas might not find that favorable. 

“Make sure it doesn’t happen again,” he threatened. Hurling him around suddenly, he threw him into the garage, watching him bounce and roll across the floor before sliding to a stop at the other end. 

He made his descent to the mech bay and walked down the line of workstations, spotting the supervisor’s confused expression from behind the glass. Adam held his gaze, making sure he knew his little game was over, as he approached the girl’s area. It was empty of any mechs and she stood at the bench with her back to him, but she must have picked up on the distinct sound of his steps because her spine went rigid as he neared. She made no move to face him so he stopped in the center of the station, spotting the faded bruise on the back of her neck. 

_So fragile._

Though not fragile enough he recalled, and he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t the slightest bit curious of how she’d regard him after their last _meeting_. He got his answer when she finally turned to assess him, wasting no time in going through the motions of the routine, circling him and beginning to take away plates and anything else that needed to be replaced. 

She remained quiet throughout the process and though she refrained from challenging his stare like she normally would it was impossible not to notice she was absolutely smoldering, suffering in silence while he savored it. It was too tempting to stoke the fire that threatened to burn. 

Waiting until she was done removing the damaged pieces, his gaze followed her back over to the workbench where she waited for the new pieces with her back to him. “Wonder where that voice of yours went...” 

Her shoulders tensed, but otherwise she remained unresponsive as he thought back on just how vocal she was for him. How her pained cries filled the small room, and how they eventually caught him off guard by sounding so _needy_. 

Trying to hold out a little longer, she fiddled with random shit at the bench and he let out a low hum that seemed to grab her attention again. “Would’ve done that sooner had I known it’d shut you up this easy.” 

She rounded on him then. “And what exactly was _that_ , hm?” she snapped, each word laced with a venom that had Adam’s hand twitching at his side. 

He held back though, knowing that’s exactly what he wanted. “What, never been fucked before?” he deadpanned. 

Her face flushed immediately, head whipping left and right like she was worried about someone hearing. It was pathetic almost, how her mouth gaped and snapped shut a few times while she tried to find her words. “Not like that,” she finally bit back, instantly backtracking as she realized the error in her wording, “I-I mean, not- not under similar circumstances or-” 

Adam cocked his head slightly as she continued to fumble her words. That's when she noticed the meatbag who arrived with the parts she needed, hastily taking them and dumping them on the worksurface. She huffed loudly as she tried to regain her composure, though she was still flustered when she returned to mount the new parts. 

However pathetic, it was also slightly amusing. 

“Not usually left high and dry like that though...” she muttered, almost inaudible even for him while she worked on fastening some of the plates to his back 

“Don’t see how that’s my problem.” He definitely heard the scoff that came from behind him then. 

She went back and forth between him and the table, reassembling him the rest of the way in silence. When she was finished, she returned to her workbench to lean back against it with arms crossed, actually facing him this time as she waited for him to leave. 

Of course, he couldn’t leave her with nothing _._ He took slow deliberate steps to stand directly in front of her, though her stare stayed fixed on his chest plate. “See how easy it can be when you just comply?” He kept his voice at a low rumble, and that actually made her look up at him, the fear and anger - the _challenge_ \- he was starting to know all too well gleaming in her eyes. “I won’t remind you again of what happens if you don’t.” 

Adam stepped away from her then, convincing himself of the same sentiment; last time was a lapse in judgement, she wasn’t getting anymore second chances. Next time she proves to be more trouble than she’s worth, he wasn’t leaving it at an empty threat. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Jeez Adam make up your mind 😶


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHEW, here we are, chapter 10!  
> Officially my biggest commitment when it comes to writing anything, so thank you guys for that haha  
> Let's keep this going ❤

V stood there at her bench completely dumbfounded, staring into the oblivion that was the concrete floor for another ten minutes. Even after her next mech came, and especially after Hank tried to holo her. She knew she shouldn’t really be blaming him but she didn’t like being caught off guard like that, though she was at least thankful for being able to recognize Smasher’s footfalls; otherwise, she’s not sure what she would have done had she turned around to find him standing there in place of a mech. 

Blinking out of her daze, she finally got to work on the next task. Unfortunately, she was finding it near impossible to fall into her normal rhythm as her mind was still reeling trying to figure out _what the hell just happened._ He was... actually mocking her? Trying to get a rise out of her? Completely overtaking her wasn’t enough, he needed to rub her nose in it too? She wasn’t sure if she was more furious at that or herself for still thinking back on it with anything other than burning hatred. 

Going up to the Lookout at the end of the day, she hopped up to sit on the edge of Hanks desk as he finished entering some logs into the system. He let out a sigh, not bothering to look away from the screen. “Sorry kid.” 

“Not your fault,” she let her hair down, running her fingers through it to undo the braid. “I take it he found out.” 

Hank gave her a quick side eye before resuming his task. “Almost dropped one of the guys from the AV garage on seventy-five.” 

She actually snorted a laugh at that, mostly in disbelief, but Hank still shot a bemused look over his shoulder so she cleared her throat. “So, no more heads up then.” 

“No.” 

“Well, it was nice while it lasted, I guess.” Crossing her arms, she took a peek out across the bay. “So, find anyone to fill two yet?” 

“Not yet.” 

V eyed him for a second while he stayed leaned in towards the screen. “What’s up with you?” 

He stayed silent for a moment and she was wondering if he was too engrossed in what he was doing to hear her or if he was even going to answer her. “Just hope I’m not the next one hanging out of the building seventy-five stories up for trying to help you out.” 

A twinge of irritation shot through her. Now, sure, she knew the whole reason he went through the trouble of finding someone to get him the information on Smasher’s arrivals was for her peace of mind, but he didn’t have to say it like _that_. She slid down from her seat on his desk to stand next to him, one hand clasping his shoulder though not in a reassuring manner. He actually stopped what he was doing to look up at her then, obviously wondering what she was getting at. 

She leaned in close to him, a mock look of concern on her face. “Oh, does Smasher scare you? That’s _cute_ ,” she retorted before he could get a word out. 

“Come on, V,” he started, but she cut him off again. 

“You can handle it V,” she imitated, standing upright when he turned in his chair to face her. “How do you think I felt in the beginning?” 

“And look where you are now, intentionally poking the bear,” he pointed out, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms. 

“That’s me handling it,” she snapped, not caring that the other supervisors had taken pause in whatever they were doing and some of the guys who’d come in to drop off logs backed out of the room. “The whole ‘no choice in the matter’ thing isn’t for me, so that’s me getting my say in.” In a way at least, though a bit self-destructive she realizes. That would explain some things. 

Hank sighed. “Well, that may work for you, but I don’t see it helping anyone else.” That made her hesitate a bit, briefly wondering exactly _why_ that worked for her, but he didn’t let her finish that thought. “V, go home. Get some sleep and I’ll see you tomorrow.” 

She only paused to watch him turn back to his desk as he resumed his work with the logs, so without another word she left the Lookout and did just that. 

At least, she tried. 

Seeing Smasher again dredged up everything she didn’t want to think about, so most of the night was spent tossing and turning with short periods of sleep in between. She kept thinking back to just how nonchalant he was about the whole thing, like that was just a normal Wednesday for him. Well, maybe not completely normal since he basically said it wouldn’t happen again. 

She knows she should be more relieved about that than she actually was. 

The unconcerned attitude shouldn’t have come as a surprise though, for as much as she’s gotten used to his demeanor. So why she was foolishly taken aback by his casual response at her _ack of fulfillment_ was a wonder; could just be asinine, or the product of wishful thinking... 

_Fucking stop it._

V rolled over to smother her face in the pillow, glad she was mostly able to manage that comfortably now, to stop the train of thought she had going. She was only just now slowly coming to terms with the fact that she didn’t hate what happened; she wasn’t ready for much more than that. 

The next day she was relieved to find Hank through the window of the Lookout, hoping that meant maybe he was just being paranoid about Smasher, and offered an apologetic smile as she walked to her station. He returned it with a nod, so she figured that meant they were ok and got to work setting up. 

The next week started off _swell_ as, much to her dismay, Smasher showed up sometime before lunch on Monday. Of course, since she wasn’t expecting him, she was too honed in on her current mech to notice his arrival. With her back to the elevator, she was working on something in the lower leg when she rose to get a piece from her workbench. She took a step back and a gasp left her as she bumped into something, so she rounded too fast and was startled even more as she came face to face – er, chest – with Smasher. 

“What the f-fuck,” she blurted under her breath as she backed into the mech, taking a deep breath to try and steady her heart that was now stuck in her throat. 

She was expecting him to say something, but he just stood there glaring at her so she squeezed out from between him and the mech to go over to her bench, setting aside everything she was working on and getting one of the operators to move it. She gulped down her coffee as they did, beginning to think she’d have to start making her spiked coffees more often with the increased frequency of his dropping in. 

V really wasn’t ready to hear any more of his shit, actually a little surprised she wasn’t already for not paying attention, so she steeled herself and turned, ready to get on with it. Walking around him twice, she grew frustrated that she wasn’t picking up anything in the scan; the most damage the armor plates had were minor scuffs and scratches, a few dings that could wait, hoses were in check, and she begrudgingly got a little closer to see that all the tubing and connections behind his chest plate and around his sides were in order. 

Finally walking back around to the front of him, she was ready to ask what his deal was until she looked up to meet his gaze. Then there, coming down from the side of his neck, her scan pinged a mostly severed connection to his voice synthesizer. She tried, _oh god_ did she try, to fight the knowing smirk that wanted to split her face. Biting the insides of her cheeks wasn’t working, so she pressed her lips into a hard line as she realized he probably wasn’t giving her shit because he _couldn’t_. 

He cocked his head and V shrugged her shoulders like she was answering some silent question he’d asked. “Nothing, just wondering where that voice of yours went," she tried to say as flatly as possible to hide the taunt. Granted, she knew she probably shouldn’t have said that as she still had to step closer, standing up on her toes to get a better look and figure out what all she needed for the repair, but after he pulled that shit last week? It was just too hard to resist. 

His glare didn’t leave her the entire time, following her back over to the bench as she gathered what she needed. The other two cables looked like they were only nicked so she would just need to replace those sleeves, and the mechs didn’t have a need for a voice synth but she’s had to work on wiring in them before. Thankfully it looked like a fairly clean cut, but that meant someone must’ve gotten _really_ close somehow and she shuddered to think of what became of them after he inevitable got a hold of them. 

She got up onto the catwalk and was removing the section of railing when she noticed he still hadn’t made a move, content with just glaring holes into her head. _Need an invitation?_ She kept her mouth shut this time, knowing she’d already pushed her luck more than enough. 

He did finally walk over, turning to give her access to the side she needed, though it was going to be a bit of an awkward reach anyway; she pretty much had to hover over him the entire time to get around the guard that surrounded his neck, all while refraining from actually leaning on him. It wasn’t long before that started taking a toll on her back. 

She straightened up for the second time to stretch her arms overhead, leaning side to side trying to release the stiffness in her spine. Smasher must’ve attempted to say something, the voice emitter only relaying some very faint static. “Sorry, what was that?” she quipped, knowing if he was saying anything it was to ridicule her. 

He only tilted his head towards her briefly before going back to looking straight ahead, so she leaned down to grab the crimp sleeves she needed for the next couple of wires and resumed her position leaning over his shoulder. She was mostly careful in only grabbing the insulated coating of the wires as she fed the exposed ends through the sleeve, but since the current wasn’t _technically_ active while he wasn’t speaking, there really was no harm in touching the exposed part for the second it took to get the crimping tool ready. That is, until he decided to try to speak again. 

The current sent a jolt straight through her arm, causing her to jump back with a yelp. “ _Motherfuck_ -!” she yelled, pacing up and down the short stretch of the catwalk while she tried to shake the pain out of her arm, her cyberware spazzing and sputtering. 

She shot a look at the back of his head, cocked just barely in her direction before he went back to looking straight in front of him. _Touché, asshole._

Dealing with all the severed wires in the sleeve was tedious but, once the tingling had left her fingertips, she was able to work through it pretty quickly. Heating up the last of the heat shrink, she took a peek around the room to see people moving about, probably getting ready to head out for lunch. Her speed surprised even her sometimes. At least, until she realized that speed came with a cost this time. 

“Uh...” she bit her lip to keep herself from saying anything else while she crouched down on the catwalk trying to think of how to word it, but he must’ve picked up on the unease in her voice. 

He turned completely to face her, snapping clear as ever, “what?” 

She held up the enclosed clamp that she was supposed to feed over the cable sleeve _before_ she started reconnecting wires. “So, I can probably still feed it over the-” 

As close as he was, the frustrated growl that left him practically shook her. “Are you really that fucking useless?” 

Her stomach dropped at his words, and god did she hope her face wasn’t as flushed as she felt at the invasive thought that crossed her mind, leaving her struggling to regain her composure. “N-no, it’s fine, if we can disconnect this for a second then-” 

She went to hold up the clamp to the end of the cable that connected to the voice synth but his hand was quick to grab her forearm, and it would have sent her recoiling had his clutch allowed it. It wasn’t bone breaking, but it definitely had her gritting her teeth. 

Smasher didn’t say anything so she took a slow, deep breath and released it before speaking through clenched teeth. “I was just checking to see if it would fit,” she inhaled sharply when his hold threatened to tighten. “I’d just unplug it for a second, unless you can get it?” Not that she was questioning his dexterity, but the cable was pretty small and not in the easiest spot to get to, so ok maybe she was questioning his dexterity a little bit. 

His grip loosened after what felt like an eternity, but not before he added a threatening, “make it quick.” 

She couldn’t pull her arm away fast enough, hastily reaching for the cable end. It was pretty secure unsurprisingly, with a release she had to twist before she could detach it, but fortunately the clamp fit right over and she was able to get it refastened as fast as possible. She paused for a second, unsure if he was going to speak to test it or berate her or whatever, so when he didn’t do either she finished up securing the fitting over the joining ends of the sleeve. 

* * *

Adam didn’t give her a chance to get too far once she finished. As soon as she made a move to stand his hand shot up, grabbing her by the throat and yanking her back down to kneel at the edge of the catwalk in front of him. Her hands grabbed for his arm out of instinct, or in a feeble attempt to relieve the pressure which could have been laughable. 

Her eyes went wide with panic as she struggled to pull in air through what little opening he left her. “I-I thought that was p-pretty quick,” she forced out. 

“That’s the only reason you’re still breathing.” Albeit barely. He could handle her petty challenges here and there and, though he tells himself he only puts up with them because she’s effective and it benefits him, he’s reluctant to admit he finds something amusing in it; mostly in putting her back in check. Evidently though, he's let her get away with too much. 

He kept his hold on her neck as he used his other hand to pry away her left hand. He'd scanned it before; some kind of multitool cybernetic, probably the main reason she was so efficient at her job. Curious of how she’d fare without it, without another word he enclosed his hand around hers, effortlessly crushing it. 

As much as she wanted to protest, she couldn’t draw in enough air for it so when he finally released her, she reeled back on her ass coughing and gasping to catch her breath. “What the fuck?!” she croaked, clutching her arm close to inspect the crumpled cyberware. "Seriously? How am I supposed to-” 

Grabbing the front of her jumpsuit as she went to stand over him, he hauled her off the catwalk and dropped her onto her feet in front of him so he could tower over her. “I don’t care what you do,” he snapped, leaving her to gawk up at him, “so long as you know next time, I'll find something weaker to break.” 

She rightfully kept her mouth shut, so he let go of her jumpsuit and left her station. Sure, she’ll probably replace the cyberware eventually, but hopefully she realized he was only going to put up with so much before he started breaking her piece by piece. 

* * *

Ok, he made it pretty clear she crossed a line somewhere. Well, not _somewhere_ , she knew exactly when. This wasn’t the usual ‘you’re starting to piss me off’ outcome she got used to facing. 

V stared at her crushed hand for another minute after Smasher walked out, and she didn’t bother looking up as she made her way up to the Lookout, knowing Hank was probably at the window. She played it over in her head, what he’d probably say since they hashed things out last week, and she could kick herself for basically jinxing things. 

_Self-destructive_ _was an understatement._

Stepping through the door, she didn’t go in any further as Hank turned to face her, holding up her hand. “I’m out for the day,” she said hurriedly, turning to make her retreat so he wouldn’t get the chance to chide her. 

He just shook his head. “Where you going?” 

“Downtown.” She knew he was just asking which Ripper, but she added, “then home,” for good measure. 

She really shouldn’t be all that surprised honestly; provoking Smasher – however justified in her own mind – as soon as he got in, probably already in a shitty mood? Definitely asking for it, but why did he have to go for _that_ hand? 

Letting out a frustrated groan, she went into Doc Ryders knowing she was just going to have to get a basic substitute. There was no chance in saving the piece, and she had nowhere near enough eddies for an exact replacement. She didn’t have to wait too long so she was able to browse and settle on a basic white cybernetic with black joint connectors and had it installed within the next hour or so. That left her plenty of time to escape to her apartment, doing random odds and ends things around the room to get used to the new tech. 

God knows how out of practice she was going to be juggling actual tools again; and she was just questioning Smasher's dexterity. Fucking preem.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short Adam pov is short I'm sorry 😅 there was a couple things I wanted to get into *words*  
> but hey, he held V's hand for a second so... (╯°o°)ᕗ  
> But damn it V you don't just go reaching for things plugged into people's heads... 🤦


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not much to preface with other than to throw my love at you guys for sticking with this for so long ❤

V stepped off the lift the next morning, her apathy palpable as she went up to see Hank for the unfinished logs from the mech she didn’t get back to yesterday. She couldn’t really remember where she left off before the interruption, maybe another half hour or so to finish up; shouldn’t set her back too much. 

Hank was already turned in his chair as she came in, watching her expectantly as she walked over to him. “How’d it go?” 

She gave a small wave to show off the new cyberware then held it in front of her face, turning it over to inspect it. “Not bad, still feels funny but I know that’ll pass the more I use it.” 

“Not like your other one then,” he noted, to which she let out a puff. 

“Yea, that’ll take some saving up for.” 

He tilted his head side to side like he was considering something. “Did you leave it with the Ripper? Maybe they could salvage it?” V just glared at him without a word making him raise his hands up in surrender. “I was just asking...” 

“Well, stupid question,” she countered. 

“How ‘bout this one; rethinking your approach to how you’re _handling things_ yet?” 

_Should’ve known that was coming_. She held out her hand without answering. “Can I just get my logs now?” 

“Oh, that reminds me...” he perked up uncharacteristically, pausing to collect some of the sheets on his desk and handing her a stack of blank logs for the day; the ones from yesterday weren’t on top. “Felix wanted to thank you for the leftovers; said they were shit.” 

Still staring at the papers in her hand, she let out an exasperated sigh. “Why wouldn’t you just leave it-” 

“New orders, nothing gets left in the stations overnight.” V finally looked up to meet Hank’s gaze. “Holding was full, too. He’s just pissy ‘cause he would have had an early night if I didn’t push him to finish your mech.” 

She scoffed, “please, the job was mostly done for him. You can tell him- actually,” she turned away from him, storming her way out of the Lookout and down the steps. “Felix!” she hollered, ignoring everyone else's stare as she came around to her side of the bay. 

Felix took a couple steps out from his station, pausing when he spotted her down the lane in front of hers. She threw up her left arm in a wave, making sure to show off her new tech, and he hesitantly started to wave back until he noticed it. That’s when she flipped him the middle finger before disappearing into her station. 

_Prick._

V gave herself plenty of time to set up; going through all the compartments of her workbench, refamiliarizing herself with where everything was located. It wasn’t often that she needed something her multitool couldn’t handle and she honestly couldn’t remember the last time she had to dig through the drawers. 

If the first job was anything to go by, her day – maybe even the rest of the week – was going to be abysmal. It was one of the mechs contracted out to the NCPD, who like to wait until they’re practically non-functioning before they send them in, so to say it was in sorry shape was an understatement. With a deep breath, she looked up to find Hank in the window and gave him the same middle finger before stepping up to the mech. 

Gauging the size of the bolts that held the plates in place was about the easiest part of the whole ordeal; aside from that, most of the bolts for the internal components were smaller varying sizes and some of them weren't even the normal hex bolts, so she was juggling at least ten different sockets. Though extremely annoying it didn’t prove to be too big of an issue while she was working from the ground, but the second she had to get up to work from the top? 

The sound of a socket rolling off the top metal panel and clinking its way through the internals before finally hitting the floor sounded again, maybe for the third or fourth time now, when V finally flung the socket wrench somewhere towards the back of her station. It bounced off the back wall before hitting the floor with a clank and she let out a long sigh, knowing she was eventually going to have to get down again to get both of them. 

Two hours. Two hours too damn long. _It’s fine_ she thought, scrubbing both hands down her face as an operator came to escort the mech. With the first one out of the way, she at least had a better idea of what she needed and didn’t, so fewer things to shuffle around. _It’ll be fine_. 

The week wasn’t as miserable as she anticipated though it still dragged on way too long, so she was more than ready for drinks with Jackie. Even convinced him to meet her Friday night; she didn’t want to wait until Saturday, hell she barely wanted to wait until ten when they would normally show up. 

So, she didn’t, instead heading in a little earlier to grab their usual spot and have their drinks ready for when he got there. At least, had her second round ready with his first. She’d used the alone time to decide if she was going to fill Jackie in on the details of her new hand, though she was leaning more towards not; she knew exactly what she was going to hear and she’d much rather not hash anything out when she was trying to unwind. 

Jackie arrived a little after ten looking surprised to see her already there, maybe even a little distracted as he made his way over to the booth. She tried to ignore that as she shoved his drink in his hand, clinked her glass against his, and threw it back. “Took ya long enough." 

“Yea, sorry, got caught up talking with some of the Valentino boys about a job,” he offered distantly, following suit with his drink before reaching out to clasp her hand in their normal handshake. Thankfully it was right-handed, so she was able to keep her left in her lap under the table for now. 

He waved over for another round before finally sitting down and they fell into their normal catching-up conversation that usually started with complaining about their weeks; she let him go first of course. It was another couple of rounds later when he relaxed back in the booth with his arms crossed, deciding he was done sharing. 

“Alright, so let’s see it.” 

V quirked an eyebrow. “See what?” 

“What do I look like, some random gonk?” he asked almost impatiently, “whatever you been hiding under the table since I got here.” 

She was a little caught off guard by how testy he seemed, so she held out her hand for him to inspect. “Just some new tech, not a big deal.” 

“Well, it definitely ain’t an upgrade,” he mused, turning her hand over in his. 

She didn’t get a chance to respond when she noticed Felix walk into the bar, an exhausted groan leaving her. “That’s just preem.” 

“What?” Jackie looked around to follow her gaze, finding Felix just as he seemed to look over and find her. “You know that guy?” 

“Work buddy.” 

He sauntered up to their corner, throwing his arms over and leaning onto the railing that separated their booth from the rest of the bar. “V, what a surprise finding you all the way up here.” 

"Could say the same to you,” she replied coolly. “This a normal spot for you?” 

He seemed to think that over. “Nah, not really. You?” 

Jackie responded for her, staring Felix down something awful while still holding onto her wrist. “Yea, you could say we’re a bit like regulars here.” 

That seemed to catch his attention though, his gaze going to her hand. “So that's why you didn’t come back Monday huh. Courtesy of Smasher?” 

V could feel Jackie’s stare on the side of her face. She took a deep breath and leaned towards Felix with a slightly scrunched up smile. “This has been fun, but uh, I’ll see you Monday.” 

Felix hesitated before Jackie spoke up. “That’s actually funny you brought him up...” he started, still staring at the side of V’s face, “’cause, that reminds me of the job I mentioned earlier.” He shot a look over to Felix that must’ve told him it was time to scram because that’s exactly what he did. 

She watched him retreat to the other side of the bar, slowly turning in her seat to face Jackie again, silently waiting for him to go on. 

“Yea... there was a job that came up over in Rancho Coronado,” he started, slowly reeling her in. “Some Sixth Street guys causing trouble, you know, but the boys heard ‘em talking about some shit that went down at one of their garages.” 

_Oh_. 

He definitely saw the look of realization on her face. “ _That_ garage.” 

“More of them knew about Bryce’s plan than we thought?” she asked carefully. 

“Oh yea, and somehow managed to escape the ‘‘saka ‘borg’ that came and blew it all to shit.” 

V slowly shook her head. “If Smasher was there, I had no idea-” 

He ignored her though, “he’s hurt you before V, I don’t get-” 

She actually huffed a laugh. “The garage? That was all Bryce and some random jackass,” at least, all that he could see, “and you saw what I did to Bryce.” 

“Ok, but what about your hand, hm?” he pressed. 

“That was,” she stammered, “that was me pissing him off, being stupid.” 

Jackie shook his head. “You seem to like doing that a lot, chica.” 

“I’m handling it,” she snapped weakly, finally taking her hand back. 

“I can’t help you if you don’t want it so,” he said with a sigh, waving over for another round, “you just let me know when you’re ready to get out. If it’s not too late.” 

She threw her arm up to make it two rounds. She really fucking needed it. 

* * *

“Has everything been transferred?” 

“Yes, sir.” 

“Good.” Adam cut the feed, turning to face the barely-breathing meat curled up on the ground. 

He held himself as a cough racked his body, spitting blood onto the floor in front of him before he looked up to meet his stare. “I t-told you... I did what you s-said.” 

“I know,” Adam paused, taking another step closer as he stood over him, “but your life wasn’t part of the deal.” His foot came down heavily on his head, cutting short the hoarse cry he tried to let out. 

Exiting the building to the roof, he finally took notice of the system warnings that have collected on his HUD over the past two weeks. Most of them minor, but he’s put them off long enough for it to become an annoyance. He crouched down into the AV, deciding he could indulge in seeing what sorry shape he left the little cunt in anyway. She should be thanking him, really, knowing how easily he could’ve taken her entire arm. 

Upon arriving at the garage, Adam made sure to pay extra attention to anyone around. He seemed to have taken care of the issue during his previous visit, but he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t looking for justification to get rid of that worthless excuse of a supervisor. He had to take a little extra care in getting rid of anyone with some kind of _authority_ ; If it could even be called that. 

Down in the mech bay things seemed to be moving along as usual, the meatbags were either busy in their workstations or filing out of his way as he walked down the lane. Though _she_ didn’t seem to be too busy he noticed as he approached her station, spotting her around the mech leaned over her bench. He almost scoffed, ready to chew her out for her laziness when she must’ve heard his approach, bolting upright and whipping around to face him. 

“Don’t stop on my account,” he sneered, stepping around to her side of the mech, “you seem real busy doing absolutely fucking nothing.” 

“I was working on something...” she muttered, pushing aside the different parts on the tabletop and getting someone’s attention to move the mech. 

He didn’t move, letting them maneuver around him as she got to work removing armor plates first. She actually kept quiet for the most part, though he couldn’t even enjoy that fully thanks to the incessant clicking of the socket wrench she had to use now. A small price to pay, he supposed. 

After the plating came a hose or two, a loose bracket, and then finally his arm-mounted launcher. He couldn’t really see what she was doing due to the neck guard but he could feel her poking around meticulously in his arm; every now and then he’d hear her talking under her breath about something being the wrong size, or cursing to herself as she juggled the different pieces trying not to drop them. 

As predicted, it took her longer to complete the job, however not by much. She didn’t beat the arrival of the new plates as she normally would though. “Took your sweet ass time,” he grumbled as she secured the final one. 

He didn’t miss the roll of her eyes when she straightened up and went back over to her workbench, loudly throwing things back into their drawer. “Wonder why.” 

It was a pathetic retort that held no bite, so he left it at that and exited the station without another word, preferring to leave less irritated than he was when he came in. Hell, he actually thought he might be able to tolerate his stops in if she kept her mouth shut like that more often. 

That was short-lived as he came in for more work to be done just the following week. Could have been the less than desirable outcome of the last job that had him so cross, his internals fluctuating seemingly unable to settle back to normal ranges; or that’s what had him so aggravated. 

The bay was unusually quiet when he got there, though finally taking notice of the time explained why. He could feel his temps rising as he neared her station, already anticipating her not being there by the looks of things. A look up to the supervisor’s area showed the one meatbag behind the glass, a nervous look on his face as he turned away, and Adam’s stare never left the window as he came to a stop in front of her area. 

Unappreciative of the dismissal, he figured it may be time to pay him a personal visit when his receptors picked up on a faint sound behind him. He turned to find the girl sitting on the catwalk, scraping the bottom of a noodle box with a pair of chopsticks before grossly slurping up a mouthful. The fact that she was present didn’t necessarily calm him but at least he wouldn’t have to go hunting her down again. 

“Need a fucking invitation?” he questioned harshly, stepping into the workstation. 

She barked out a dry laugh, sliding off the edge of the catwalk and landing with a soft thud before walking over to her bench. Dropping the box onto the tabletop, she started off with a scan like normal, though she took an extra lap around him. Then of course she was in no hurry as she looked through a couple of drawers, collecting the bits and sockets she needed. 

He was quick to let out a distorted groan. “Could you move any slower?” 

“I mean I could...” She shoved everything into her pockets, slamming the drawer closed before coming over to him to start getting plates off. 

It was when she leaned in to reach the bolts that secured his chest plate that he grabbed for her arm, nothing in his diagnostics suggesting she needed to go digging behind it. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” 

She flinched, dropping the wrench as he squeezed in warning. “There’s something wedged in your... side, between the flexion and extension cables,” she bit out, “I need to get _this_ out of the way so that I can get the lower plates _under it_ out of the way.” 

“Just remove whatever it is and be done with it,” he growled, not letting go of her arm. 

“Sure, who cares what it could snag on the way out? Nothing important tucked away in there, right- ah!” she tried to hold back the yelp as he squeezed tighter. “Fine! I’ll just rip it out if that’s what you want.” 

He held onto her, another groan emitting as he double-checked his systems. Things seemed to be leveling out now at least, though he didn’t like the idea of her yanking anything out of him. “Get on with it.” 

Finally releasing her arm, she bent down to pick up the wrench and walked over to the catwalk without a word. He followed reluctantly, stopping at the edge of the platform so she could peek over the top of the plate, awkwardly trying to find the right size socket and fit the wrench behind it all while mumbling her complaints. When she got the top part detached, she came back down to work on the rest from the ground, removing the large plate completely followed by the lower plates of his abdomen to get access to the hoses that ran up his side. 

“Yup, that’s stuck in something,” she muttered, loosening the thick cables to get to whatever was behind them. “Oh, hey look, I think that’s a coolant line back here.” 

“Would you shut up,” he barked. 

She did, for maybe five minutes while she shoved rags into him to remove a shard of metal and replace a section of the line. “Man, that would have made a mess if I just pulled that out...” 

“I preferred when you kept your fucking mouth shut,” he snapped as she straightened up to retrieve more coolant to bleed and fill the system. 

“Yea, well, back at ya,” she replied as she finished, “should get that vocal line of yours severed again.” 

Some of the meatbags had started to make their return, exiting the elevator and making their way back to their designated areas, and he watched them as he let her secure all his plates, allowing his systems time to circulate and restabilize before inevitably spiking them again. Trailing her as she went to the bench to put things away, instead of exiting the workstation he came up behind her, his hand going to the back of her neck and forcing her forward onto the tabletop. Her hands shot up in an attempt to brace herself, slapping against the surface as she barely avoided smacking her face against it. 

“I can't help but feel you’ve forgotten who you’re speaking to,” he growled from above her, paying no mind to the meatbags hastily making their way past her station. “Need something else broken already?” 

She turned her head to the side but didn’t say anything; face slightly flushed and eyes reflecting in a way he knew all too well, only faltering when his grip tightened a fraction. 

_One word, just say one... more... word._

But she didn’t, remaining silent as he stared down at her and he waited another couple of seconds before eventually straightening up. His systems had balanced now and he still had another job to finish and a client to contact, so he released her and exited the bay ready to get back to work. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope this made up for the short Adam pov last time 😁  
> Man oh man V, what are you gonna do if he keeps bending you over stuff? 👀


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took an extra day!   
> With how work is picking up and I'm starting to take on additional responsibilities, trying to hit the 3 day turnover time is actually getting a little stressing and the last thing I want to do is sacrifice quality for trying to hit a deadline. I am in NO WAY backing off this thing because I still have A TON of stuff planned; that I promise ❤   
> I hope y'all understand and continue to stick with me, I'm excited for what's ahead and I think you'd be too ❤😉

What the fuck was wrong with her?

She had it, last week was as smooth as she could imagine it’d get. Sure, he goaded her a little, but she bit her tongue and didn’t piss him off so he let her be. Yet this week she just had to feed off his sour mood, snapping back when he lashed out.

_ He questioned me doing my job, I had to push back. _

Maybe not push; could’ve gently nudged, tried to quietly convince? Or just did what he fucking said.

_ Yea, no. That wouldn’t have ended well either.  _

She probably would have ended up in the exact same spot she was now; shoved face-down onto the benchtop, a heavy hand on the back of her neck, and a knot in the pit of her stomach that wasn’t just __ fear.

Anxiousness? For what exactly she couldn’t say but the familiarity of the situation had her mind reeling.

_ He wouldn’t... not here, right? _

That is  _ not  _ what she should be worried about, especially when his words made it clear that the only thing on his mind was probably breaking her neck in his grasp. She chased away the thoughts, barely avoiding Dalton’s gaze as he returned to station three, turning her head to try to see Smasher behind her.

He was unmoving, waiting for her to respond to his threat surely. She wouldn’t though, the tightening of his grip helping her draw on whatever reserves she had from last week to keep her lips sealed. Evidently, that was good enough for him as he finally released her to exit the bay while she stayed there another couple minutes to get her thoughts straight, at least pushing herself up to lean on the bench. 

“What?” she snapped at Dalton, who she caught casting curious looks her way while he tried to resume his task.

He averted his attention and she turned at last as her next mech was being dropped off, thankful for the distraction. Of course, it wasn’t a foolproof distraction as she found her mind still wandering, but she was mostly able to  keep it in check.

Mostly.

A load of good that did her once she was alone back at her apartment, sitting on the shower floor under the spray of hot water still trying to figure out what was wrong with her. It made sense, at least she thought, that the similarities from today's  _ incident  _ would make her think about what happened... 

She shook her head, almost slapping herself in the face with her wet hair. She should be trying to repress that memory, at the very least look back on it with disgust; yet the only thing she was worried about was if he was going to take her again right there with everyone around. Even under the hot water, she could feel the shiver run down her spine at the  question that crossed her mind; did she want him to do it again?

Tilting her  head up into the stream of water, she let it run over her face like it would wash away the absurd suggestion. She most definitely shouldn’t, but the fact that she was even questioning it didn’t bode well for that. He pretty much said it himself though; wasn’t happening again. That alone should have shut down the pestering thoughts. 

If her restless night was anything to go by, it didn’t.

V was practically asleep on her feet when she went in the next day, a nice large cup of coffee in hand, but she was still with it enough to take notice of someone bustling around in station two again. A quick peek as she walked by actually showed Elliot back in his old spot, shuffling things around in the drawers that Masato must have rearranged. 

Her steps slowed as she passed. “Hey El,” she called out, trying not to show her disbelief as she gave a small wave when he turned to find her.

“V, hey,” he returned his own sheepish wave before going back to reorganizing.

She’d have to ask Hank about that later for sure.

Starting her day like usual, she fell into her normal rhythm after the first mech arrived. She was pleased to think she was actually getting comfortable with swapping between all the different sockets and bits she needed without making a mess of everything, though she was still counting down how many paydays it would take to get her multitool replacement. 

Lunch hour rolled around and V ran up to the plaza to pick something up before going back down to the bay to eat with Hank, ready to snoop. “So,” she started when there was a lull in the conversation, taking a generous bite of her burger. “Elliot?” He just shook his head while he continued to eat, so she took the time to chew her food before speaking again. “How, exactly, were you able to convince them of  _ that _ ?”

He actually chuckled. “I have no fucking clue.”

V sorted a laugh. “At least it’s not some random gonk, I guess.”

“I’m... probably going to try to take it easy on him at first,” he finally said after finishing his meal. “We talked and he knows he needs to step up, so it’s just until he gets reacclimated at least.” 

She nodded, understanding what that essentially meant for their workload. “How does Felix feel about that?” she teased dryly. 

“Ah, he’ll get over it,” he blew off. 

_ Hopefully _ . 

Not that he’d do much other than bitch and moan, probably. That reminded her of his little drop in at Lizzie’s the other week though; how weird it seemed at the time. 

_ And then he went and ratted me out. Fucker. _

She couldn’t help the roll of her eyes as she took another bite and Hank must’ve seen it. “You don’t think he will?”

She shrugged while she chewed. “I just know he better not come bitching at me either way.” He seemed to get it, though she knew not completely, as he nodded finally. 

At least she got a heads up before the rest of her week was filled up with the more tedious tasks, so she knew what to expect. 

She was sitting atop one of her mechs the following week, working on a sensor when she fumbled one of the sockets. Letting out a sigh as she listened for how many times it  _ tinked _ __ around the insides, she was relieved it didn’t seem to make it too far. Laying as flat as she could without sliding off, she searched around until she found it sitting precariously on one of the internal components. She reached in carefully, feeling around until she felt her finger bump it a little too hard, sending it falling further down the body. 

She heaved a louder, aggravated sigh.  _ Preem, great job.  _

For some reason, she thought of Smasher criticizing her for being slow the past couple times. Surely, he’d have something to say about the clumsy mess she was now, and it flustered her to think about it as she stayed there halfway hanging inside the cramped body of the mech in search of her socket. 

" _ Quit fucking around _ ,” she mocked under her breath as she felt around. “ _ You’re wasting my time. Fucking useless _ -” 

That made her pause. That was... the original  _ deal _ , right? She was disposable once she lost her usefulness. However, back at the garage...

_ ‘ _ _ Could just find another use for you.’ _

V shivered at the recollection. She should not be thinking about this, not even  _ considering  _ it, but-

“There you are,” she said with relief, cutting off the train of thought as she grabbed the stray socket. 

With a huff she backed herself out of the body cavity, sitting up to make sure all her pieces were accounted for before putting the top panels in place to secure them. She knew she couldn’t keep the thoughts at bay for long, but at least they waited until she was done and waiting for the next mech to flood her mind. 

If she were to- fuck,  _ why  _ would she want that? He was an impossible to deal with, infuriating, terrifying, fucking  _ rude _ , callous dick, and, and... 

_ Unfucking _ _ believable _ .

She scrubbed both hands over her face  before raking them through her hair as the next mech arrived, diving headfirst in the next task to keep focused. That was easy enough as it turned out to be a bit of a project that kept her busy for an extra hour overtime, but that allowed her just enough time to get back to the apartment, shower, then head out to Lizzie’s.

She was there early again, getting a couple of drinks in while waiting for Jackie to arrive when she noticed Felix enter the building. With a roll of her  eyes, she scooted over to Jackie’s side of the booth so she wasn’t facing the door, but he knew where to look for her. 

“Hey V,” he called out, approaching the railing next to her and throwing his arms over to lean on it like last time. 

“Felix,” she replied blandly, taking a long drink then turning to look at him, “what’s up?”

He shrugged nonchalantly, “saw  ya over here, figured I'd come say hi.”

Finishing the rest of her drink, she guessed she should say something since it seemed like he was going to linger. “So, how’d the week treat you?”

“Eh, wasn’t too bad, though I figured having an extra person back would’ve made the workload a little easier.”

_ And there it is. _

“I don’t mind having Elliot back, he just needs a little time to get used to things again,” she offered, looking past him to wave over for another round. 

Thankfully she saw Jackie come in then and he was quick to come to her rescue. He stepped up to the booth reaching for a handshake, pulling her up out of his spot so he could take it, and effectively seating himself between her and Felix.

“Hermana,” he said with a pat on her shoulder as she sat back down before finally turning to Felix with a nod. “ Cabrón .”

She only caught his confused smile when Jackie turned fully back to her, grabbing her attention. “What about this one, is he trouble like the last one?” he muttered.

“What? No- no he’s just-” she paused, looking back to Felix who was still at the railing. “I’ll catch  you  Monday, kay?”

He gave a simple nod while backing away, “See  ya then.”

V waited for him to get a little further away  before returning her attention to Jackie. “I don’t know, he’s bitched at me twice now but thinks we’re chooms all the sudden? Beats me.”

Her next round arrived and Jackie grabbed his up from the table so they could toss them back together. “Bitched at you for what?”

“He had to finish a mech for me when I didn’t come back after Smasher crushed my hand, and then,” fuck, she wasn’t trying to bring this up again, “then when he had to take care of Smasher while I was... otherwise  occupied.”

“I mean, I get why he wouldn’t want to, but how’s that your problem?”

She just shrugged. “Guess because he’s next in line if I’m not available? So, he wants me to be available at all times.”

He waved it off. “Ah, fuck him.”

She just shook her head and laughed as they relaxed and fell into normal conversation, Jackie signaling for their next round. V made it known she’d like to go shooting with him again, to which he seemed overly delighted. Even tried telling her about this really easy job he went on recently that would have been perfect to get her in on, which she should have seen coming, so she just smiled and nodded along.

* * *

The girl somehow hadn’t noticed his arrival as she sat atop the mech, tinkering with something in one of the mounted guns with her back to him, either not paying attention or ignoring him altogether. Both possibilities annoyed him, so he walked over and dropped the projectile launcher that was supposed to be mounted on his shoulder heavily onto the workbench.

If the way she jumped was any indication, he caught her off guard either way. “ _ Jesus _ ...” she muttered, taking a deep breath as she started collecting her things to climb down from the mech. “I heard you, no need to go slamming shit around.”

“Then you should have been moving already,” he stated obviously, unsure what was so hard to understand about that. 

She paused on the catwalk before stepping down. “I could have had the station cleared for you if I was allowed to know when you were coming.”

He didn’t say anything as he returned her stare, deciding he was already done with that conversation. As far as he was concerned, she made herself available when he arrived. It wasn’t his job to make hers any easier.

When she realized he wasn’t going to say anything more on it, she stepped off the  catwalk and came over to the bench to set aside whatever she’d been working on. With a cautious glance up at him she reached over and slid the launcher in front of herself, inspecting the mangled swingarm for whatever she needed while someone came to move the mech and he took its place at the back of the station. He turned to give her access to his left side as she got back up onto the platform, getting to work on the dented and busted plating first. 

“Jeez, run through any walls lately?” she asked low enough he assumed she was talking to herself, so he let her while he ignored her. “Taking that as a yes...”

“I meant it when I said I preferred when you shut up.”

She took that hint at least, removing the mounting bracket and the rest of the plates in silence before going to the bench to work on the arm of the launcher while waiting on the new pieces. Adam stayed at the catwalk occasionally watching her progress, at one point catching as she dug through her pockets for a different bit, spilling a couple of the others onto the floor.

“You really are hopeless without your little tool, aren't you?” He didn’t miss the eye-roll she tried to hide by looking up at the ceiling, but she didn’t say anything. “Almost as uncoordinated as that other pathetic  meatbag ...”

“I thought you wanted me to shut up,” she quipped, her eyes not leaving the swingarm she was working on.

That one irked him. He was really going to have to teach her to stop trying to use his own words against him. “Surely, you understand the concept of speaking when you’re spoken to?”

She inhaled, ready to snap back when the new pieces arrived, the brief distraction giving her enough time to reconsider her approach apparently as she went with a more sarcastic route. “Yes, thanks to you. Guess that means you’ll have to get rid of me or find another use for me-” 

She paused amidst gathering the materials to bring over to him, recovering a split second later to get back up onto the walkway, matching his glare for a brief second before it faltered. 

“Thanks to that fucking mouth of yours,” he corrected her harshly, not allowing her a moment of respite even as she, again, tried firing back with his own words. 

With a renewed haste she went to secure the new plates, remaining silent as it occurred to him which words she actually used. Adam caught the implication clearly, though there was no bite to her retort so he questioned whether or not _she_ did. Probably just running off at the mouth as usual, she couldn’t be that stupid, though why bring it back up at all; did she think he cared if she was still mad about it?

“Good to go,” she spoke up, practically skipping the stairs off the catwalk to retreat back to her bench.

Regarding her for a moment as she left her back turned to him, he eventually stepped up to leave the workstation. He reached out as he walked by, letting his hand fall heavily onto the launcher as he scooped it off the tabletop next to her which made her flinch slightly. He was ready for her to piss him off today but he couldn’t say he was expecting that particular turn, though that alone irritated him for catching him off guard.

He left the bay without giving it a second thought, making contact with the next client.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This may be something I come back to edit to get the right *feel*


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys!  
> I just wanted you to know how much better y'all made me feel with your comments and reassurances 😭 I'm not lying when I say I got caught at work smiling at my phone like an idiot while reading over them ❤  
> Stepping away from the whole deadline thing was still a little tough because I felt like I was taking too long, but hey, twice the amount of time for a chapter that's twice as long kinda works out, right? 😅  
> Also, I'm really glad we all kinda agreed V's got a (not so great?) way with words and Smasher's all dial-up tones up there right now 🤣
> 
> But without further ado, I'll see ya at the end of the chapter 😉

_There’s no fucking way I just said that._

Mortified didn’t even begin to scratch the surface of what she was feeling right now as she stared down at the benchtop, her face getting warmer by the second. That thought was not supposed to leave the deepest recesses of her mind, let alone become words to just spew out of her mouth. 

_Maybe he didn’t catch that last part..._

The sound of her last mech returning finally snapped her out of it and she rose to collect herself, albeit barely and ran a hand over her face. The cool metal was a stark contrast to her flushed skin, so she thought screw protocol and shrugged out of the top of her jumpsuit to tie the arms around her waist and untuck her t-shirt. Write her up, she didn’t care right now. She caught Dalton watching perplexed from behind his mech again, but he didn’t say anything so she didn’t bother, turning away as she tried to remember where the hell she left off. 

She was quick to get to work after climbing back on top of the mech, trying to stay focused enough to fight off the thoughts wracking her brain and eager to get the day over with so she’d be that much closer to her weekend plans with Jackie at the range. They went back to the same spot up in Little China, Wilson greeting them loudly as soon as they stepped off the lift and pestering them about buying a gun or two instead of all his ammo. 

“Maybe next time,” Jackie offered with a chuckle, pushing her to keep walking as he rolled his eyes. 

“Can’t say he doesn’t try hard enough,” she muttered with a laugh. 

He got them set up at the two furthest lanes, splitting the cases of ammo between them. “Yea, well, there’s such a thing as too pushy.” 

She wouldn’t argue with him on that. 

After a warmup mag, they got into their little friendly competitions to see who had the better grouping pattern, who shot their target first... Jackie even thought it’d be funny to shoot out her target before she could. She always got him with accuracy though, hitting the bullseye almost every time. 

She could feel him watching her as they packed up to leave and she didn’t have to guess what was going to come out of his mouth. “One job.” 

Refraining from letting out an exasperated sigh, she shot him a quick sideways glance. “Why?” 

“I think we’d make a good team,” he perked up as they headed for the lift. “Besides, that sure shot of yours could help keep me outta trouble.” 

V let out a dry laugh. “You, in trouble?” 

“Happens to the best of us,” he said before nudging her with his elbow. “Does that mean you’re thinking about it?” 

“No,” she said flatly. “Even if I were... what would even constitute an ‘easy job’?” 

Jackie seemed to ponder that for a minute as they left the Megabuilding, grabbing two seats at the food stand right outside. “I mean...” 

“Yup already had to think about that for too long,” V laughed, shaking her head. 

“Look, some jobs seem like they’ll be easy and they turn into a shitshow, and sometimes it’s a suicide mission turned into a cakewalk.” He shrugged too nonchalantly for her liking. “I’ll sniff around.” 

“No, you don’t have to. Seriously,” she countered, already feeling bad for entertaining the idea for too long. 

They both ordered, eating in comfortable silence as the city bustled around them. After several minutes, Jackie took a break from slurping noodles to gesture towards her left hand with his chopsticks. “You got so used to it you don’t want to replace it or what?” 

Holding her noodle box up, she scraped the rest into her mouth before shaking her head. “Fuck no, still saving up.” 

"Shit hermana, Arasaka don’t pay you enough? Shoulda went to them for some compensation or something,” he half-joked. 

She hadn’t thought about that honestly; just saying it got damaged on the job wouldn’t get her anything, but she couldn’t imagine _telling on_ Smasher would result in a favorable outcome for her. “It’s a pricey piece. Well fuckin’ worth, though.” 

They parted ways as the evening drew near, deciding to skip out on Lizzie’s again, not wanting to find Felix there and have to deal with him awkwardly trying to strike up a conversation. Maybe after a couple of weeks he’d give up on whatever it is he was trying to achieve. She wasn’t sure why he’d suddenly taken an interest in her, but she knew she didn’t care for it. 

The next time Smasher came in she couldn’t help but notice the ache in her chest that she hadn’t felt when dealing with him in a while, the way it tightened with absolute dread. She spotted him from her side of the mech right as he came off the elevator, so she had time to clear out what she was doing and send it off before he reached her area. 

He remained silent as he entered the station, leaving her unable to gauge his mood, so she did as well as she scanned his frame and began removing pieces that needed replacing. She waited for the mockery that was sure to come, and though it unsettled her with each passing second that it didn’t, she made sure she was extra careful in handling her tools so as not to bring it upon herself. 

It became easier to shake the feeling the longer she worked, letting herself fall into a familiar tempo that stole her focus. She was actually so focused she almost missed one of the guys from downstairs bringing up the new plates for her. It took some back-and-forth between Smasher and the bench, but she eventually got all the new pieces secured and wiped down, disregarding the stare she could feel coming from above her. 

_Homestretch, almost done; don’t lose your nerve now._

She barely got out her “okay, you’re done,” before he was marching off, making his exit from the mech bay without a single word for the first time. 

Not one word of ridicule, no harsh comments, or barking commands. It was... weird, almost. 

* * *

Adam confirmed with the client the issue had been dealt with and have the funds transferred as he knelt into the AV, ordering the pilots to return to the main tower. The repairs needed would be minor, but he had quite the job lineup for the following week, so he reluctantly convinced himself it would be beneficial to get it taken care of sooner, ignoring the slight curiosity of what he’d come into this time.

She was uncharacteristically quiet through the duration of his last stop in, though he decided not to pay any mind to it and just savor it while it lasted. Needless to say, it lasted a lot longer than he expected so he used the time to go over scans and information for the next job, now and then taking pause to survey her work. He had caught her once as she got up to retrieve something from the workbench, her back to him as she sorted through the plates for what she needed next. His stare went to the back of her neck briefly, free of any marks or bruises. 

It would have vexed him until he remembered bruises weren’t enough to get the message across; she still wore _that_ evidence, at least.

Stepping off the lift, Adam entered the bay while things were in full swing. He was maybe two stations away when he saw a mech clearing out of her area, and she stood with her arms crossed by her bench as she waited for him to arrive. 

The first time was nothing special; she’s had lucky timing before, but twice in a row? “Someone’s finally starting to get it,” he commented as he stepped into the station. 

She pursed her lips to the side, holding back whatever she was going to say as she walked around to scan him and got to work. It was almost laughable like he gave a damn about her little silent treatment. He could make her talk if he wanted to; he could have her making a lot of sounds if he wanted. 

The exasperated noise that escaped him must’ve startled her, her hand pulling away quickly like she did something wrong, though she resumed her task when he didn’t say anything more. He assumed that was something he’d gotten out of his system, having not given it a second thought up until she made her remark the last time he was in. Pulling up data scans for the next job, he brushed up on those in silence as she finished working on him. 

To his annoyance, some things came up during one of the jobs the next week that required immediate follow-up, setting him back until the situation was resolved, which meant he needed to re-prepare for the busy schedule he had to catch up on.

Entering the mech bay, he made his way down the line of workstations finding the girl leaned across her workbench, appearing to be discussing something with the meatbag in the next station down about whatever part he was holding, her area sitting empty. Her idleness could’ve irritated him enough to snap if the view he had didn’t have the fleeting image of how he left her back in that storage room crossing his mind, though the fact that it made him hesitate only served to infuriate him. In that hesitation, however, he noticed another mech approaching from the holding area on the other side of the bay. 

Adam held off further on saying anything; if that’s what she was waiting on, he was going to be quite the shock then. 

He sent a glare to the one guiding the mech as he cut them off, diverting them back over to the other side of the room. That’s when the meatbag she was talking to finally spotted his approach, his expression causing her to look over her shoulder to investigate. Obviously not expecting him, she spun around upright and braced her hands on the edge of the bench as he entered her area. 

“Hope I’m not interrupting,” he growled as he stepped into the back of the station. 

It took her a second to gather the couple of things she needed before following him and stepping up onto the catwalk. “Not at all,” she finally spoke up. 

She stayed mostly quiet behind him, though every now and then he could pick up on the sounds of her talking to herself. It wasn’t enough to be distracting, so he didn’t say anything as he looked over data scans and let her get on with her work. 

* * *

The past couple of weeks have been, dare she say it, nice. 

She got a chance to recover from her embarrassment in peace, though maybe not entirely as she still felt her chest tighten slightly the past couple times he’s come in, but enough that things were able to carry on like normal. Well, without the mocking and goading and bickering that she’s gotten used to. So, maybe not normal for them, but she did appreciate the quiet. 

All that was about to go downhill real fucking fast. 

V walked beside Jackie as they approached two more Valentino's, Martín and Miguel, outside an old factory warehouse on the south side of Arroyo, pistol holstered at her hip. They were right at the edge of Rancho Coronado, apparently waiting for a location to make a trade for some weapons with Sixth Street. 

Jackie could probably tell she was on edge, her shoulders tense since he mentioned the other gang. “Don’t worry, chica. It can’t get any easier than this; we’re just here as extra muscle to make sure the trade goes smoothly,” he nudged her with his elbow. “Just gettin' your feet wet.” 

That’s not exactly what she was worried about. There were a lot of people at the garage that day who saw her, and who knows how many actually escaped with their lives to tell the rest of them. She was probably just some insignificant bitch to most of them, but there was no telling who else from her old factory days was in on it or even just _knew_ about it. Bryce had a lot of 'buddies’, she did not. 

However, Jackie still managed to entice her enough to suck it up and tag along. ‘Padre was kind enough to throw in a little bonus for you if everything goes well,’ he’d said too sweetly. ‘Who knows, maybe that’d be enough to get you your replacement multitool?’ 

‘I doubt it,’ she tried to laugh off, knowing if it was a job easy enough for her to tag along on, it probably wasn’t very high-risk-high-reward. 

‘Okay then, how ‘bout this; if all goes well, I’ll pitch in the rest of the way to get you your tech back.’ 

_The bastard._

She eventually took a deep breath, nodding in response. “Yea, preem.” 

He gave her a quick pat on the back as they neared the others to wait for the go-ahead. They didn’t have to stand around for long, the call coming in to give them the actual location of the trade. It wasn’t far off and in an open enough area so as not to raise suspicion that things could go sideways. When they pulled up, it was just two Sixth Street members to start, standing at the back of a heavily modified Thrax with a rather beefy weapons case sitting on the trunk, but when all four of them got out, two more of their members emerged from the car. 

Made her wonder who was supposed to surprise who with their numbers, since she probably wasn’t originally accounted for. 

The additional two seemed to be there for the same reasons she and Jackie were, mirroring their stance off to the opposite side while the other four talked their deal. That was until one of them felt the need to point out the obvious. 

“Before we go discussing things out in the open,” he waved his hand around casually before training his gaze on her, “who’s she with? Don’t look like one of yours.” 

“New kid in the neighborhood,” Jackie answered before anyone could trade any questioning looks. “Just showing her the ropes.” 

“Oh, a little field trip, is that all?” He drawled, ambling over to stand in front of her. “Think you coulda picked a better neighborhood,” he offered with a smirk. 

It took everything she had not to roll her eyes, only flashing a tight smile before the other guy came to pull him away, ready to get the deal over with. Getting her multitool back was the only thing on her mind so, to ensure things stayed on track, she would remain on her best behavior.

It really couldn’t have gone any smoother. Jackie gave her a subtle nod when they walked back around to the trunk of the car, but V didn’t settle until each group got back into their vehicles and went their separate ways, _then_ she let herself relax into her seat. 

“See, what I tell ya? We’ll have you ready for a Scav haunt in no time,” Jackie teased, ignoring the doubtful look she gave him as he holo’d Padre to confirm everything went along as planned. A couple of minutes later, he was transferring her little bonus and, though it wasn’t a hefty chunk, it was still more than she was expecting. “Come on, let's go get you your tech. Try not to get it busted this time,” he cautioned with a look.

The entire next week was probably the most cheerful she’s ever been at work, so much so it didn’t go unnoticed. Hank had been doing as promised, slowly getting Elliot back into the more time-consuming repairs, though V still insisted she was fine with her current workload. Let Felix take all the boring stuff; she was ready to go. 

Hell, part of her wished Smasher would have come in while she was still in good spirits, even if it was only for smug reasons. 

It wasn’t until three weeks later when he finally did make another appearance, about thirty minutes before quitting time with what looked like at least two hours' worth of repairs. “Fucking seriously...” She kept her voice low as she sent off the mech she was so close to finishing, watching him approach while trying to hide her aggravation. 

“There a problem?” he asked, uncaring as he walked by her into the station. 

V scrubbed a hand down her face, shaking herself out of it before he turned back around. “Yea, no... just hope there are enough people downstairs to get all this shit cut...” she muttered, calibrating her cyberware as she stepped up to him to start a scan. 

She didn’t miss the slight movement of his head as his stare matched hers. “Guess you better get on with it then,” he snapped. 

Scrunching up her face as she glowered at the back of his head, she circled him one more time to make sure she got everything before sending the list downstairs with an accompanying ‘sorry’. 

She got to work on the plating first, annoyed to find some individual mounting brackets underneath that also needed to be replaced. They must’ve had anyone left downstairs on a machine though, getting all the pieces cut around the same time and delivering the whole cartload at once while she was still replacing a fluid line in his side. 

“The last of the brackets should be up shortly,” the guy assured when she came over to help unload the cart, avoiding Smasher’s glare from behind her. 

“Thanks, that should be it hopefully...” she offered with an apologetic smile. 

She watched him walk off, eyes flickering around the room then to see almost everyone clearing out for the day, a couple of the others finishing up their last tasks or sending their mechs over to holding; she still had a way to go. 

“Gonna just stand there and daydream?” 

Then there’s that. 

Without a word, she went back to his side to finish the line before moving on to one of the hoses in his left arm. That kept her occupied for a little while, long enough that when she switched over to his right arm, she noticed almost everyone was gone. 

_Well shit._

The rest of the mounting brackets came up a little while later though she paid no mind while she worked. She was so focused she didn’t even realize the supervisors were leaving or that Hank had come over to her station until Smasher bit out harshly, “need help finding your way out?” 

She hesitated, looking up at him before checking behind her to see Hank leaning back against the workbench. “Oh, hey, what’s up?” she asked casually, going back to prodding inside his arm. 

“Just seeing how it was going,” he paused, flashing a quick look over her head at Smasher before focusing back on her. “You got much more to do?” 

Turning to face Hank, she stepped away from Smasher and rubbed at the back of her neck in thought. “Uh, yea. Think I still got a bit left.” 

He sighed and nodded, setting some of his stuff on the benchtop. “Should I go get us something to eat?” 

V tilted her head in confusion when it clicked that he was actually going to stay with her this time. “Oh! No, that’s ok,” she refrained from checking over her shoulder. With how uneventful it’s been during his last few visits, and now with her multitool back, she was thinking it’d be a quick and quiet evening. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll be fine.” 

He looked at her skeptically. “V...” 

“It’s fine. The past couple weeks have been fine, right?” she reassured, keeping her voice low. 

Hank still hesitated before nodding, grabbing his stuff off the bench. “You sure?” 

V made a shooing gesture with her hands before turning back to Smasher, wondering just how sure she was after hearing the elevator doors close. 

* * *

His glare followed the sorry meatbag as he retreated to the elevator until the doors closed, almost disappointed the girl sent him away. Could have been an opportune time to _talk_ if he was sticking around until the repairs were finished. 

“You really should let him off the hook,” she said weakly. 

He tilted his head to find her eyes remaining focused as she poked around in his arm. “And you should mind your own fucking business.” 

She seemed to ponder something before speaking up again. “I was the one who asked him to do it anyway.” 

Of course she did. “He could have thought for himself,” he dismissed, though that may be giving him too much credit; none of the worthless meat could. 

When she spoke again, it was almost inaudible. “I don’t get the big deal, anyway.” 

“You’re seeking punishment in his stead, then?” he sneered. 

“No, I just don’t get-” 

A static laden groan came from his voice emitter, causing her to pause for a fraction of a second. Figures now she wanted to talk. 

That seemed to serve as warning enough, though; she continued with repairs for the next hour in silence while he was left to seethe in his mind. Now that he was thinking about it, there was quite a list of things he could come up with to _punish_ her for; first and foremost was causing those pestering thoughts to return. After his last visit, he was almost convinced he would have to find another joytoy to break to get it out of his system again. 

Adam observed her as she went back and forth between him and the bench, bringing over the plates she needed a couple at a time. Why bother with a joytoy, especially when she opened up such a clear opportunity, however obliviously. She was the one to dredge it all up for whatever reason anyway, and he’s been meaning to teach her another lesson about trying to use his words against him. Maybe she’d realize she picked the wrong words. 

His optics pinged each camera around the large expanse, recalling the first time he entertained the idea. While giving it some thought now, he was sure his puny runner would be able to take care of the feed somehow or at least make the level inaccessible. Hell, cut a deal with the dweller; he didn’t care. He sent a brief encrypted message then, allowing the girl to finish securing the rest of his armor plates. 

“Ok, that should do it,” she said at last, wiping the plates down before shoving the rag into her pocket. Eyeing him curiously for a second, she finally went to clear off her bench of the mess when he didn’t make a move to leave. 

_That could work._

Adam stepped forward when she had most of the old parts loaded into the scrap bin at the end of her station, stopping behind her as she collected the last of the smaller bits and pieces. Seemingly in a hurry to leave, she gathered everything up in her arms and stepped back from the workbench just as he stepped closer, bumping into him hard enough to bounce forward and send all the parts clattering to the floor or back onto the bench. 

“Fuck-” she hissed out, though it was cut short by a sharp intake of breath as she froze, not turning on him knowing he was so close probably. 

Leaning onto the bench with his fists on either side of her, he pushed her forward with his chest plate causing her to brace her arms out in front of her. “Since you brought it up... I think I prefer the idea of punishing you instead,” he spoke low, noticing her tense under him as she tried to keep herself propped upright, “and maybe you'll learn to choose your words more carefully.” 

She remained silent, his position over her letting him see exactly when her arms started to tremble, her hands balling into fists flat against the surface of the bench. A glance up to the nearest camera showed it still active though a quick daemon upload dealt with those indefinitely, a response from his runner confirming he had the rest covered. 

With that taken care of, he finally looked back down at the girl. “I’d suggest removing that if you want something to walk out of here in.” 

“W-what-” she stuttered, though it faltered when he grabbed the back of her neck, hardly giving her enough time to push some of the remaining metal pieces off the workbench before he forced her down the rest of the way. The surface left just enough room to work with; he was still able to keep her pinned though her cheek barely rested on the edge. 

“Or don’t,” he said carelessly, his other hand bunching the back of her jumpsuit, “doesn’t matter to me.” 

“Wait, wait, wait!” she blurted, wiggling awkwardly as she squeezed her hand between herself and the tabletop to unzip. 

He watched her struggle for a moment, trying to get her arms out of the sleeves while he still held her down, using the time to allow a hidden panel to slide out of the way, his cock emerging from its recess in the groin plating. She’d mostly gotten her arms free as the final segment clicked into place, so he yanked the suit down the rest of the way before hooking a finger under her underwear and tearing it away from her body. She wasn’t able to, but under his grip he could feel she wanted to lift her head, a small sound of protest escaping though it was cut short when she found his glare. 

Not one to waste time, he let his free hand go to her waist to keep her still as he lined up with her cunt. Last time may have been a little less thought out, so he didn’t consider it until after the fact; this time he reluctantly released a bit of lubricant as he drove into her the _first_ time, burying himself completely. That would be the only leniency he granted her. 

It still nearly tore a cry from her throat; nearly, because it sounded like she was clenching her teeth to keep it from resounding throughout the larger space. _Now_ she wanted to keep quiet. He plunged into her again, maybe putting a little more force behind it causing her to let it out. “Little too late to try keeping that mouth shut," he taunted, punctuating every other word with a powerful surge forward. 

She was still trying to hold back; her breaths coming out in a hiss as her face remained scrunched up in pain. He almost missed her broken reply between thrusts, “thought... wanted me... quiet...” 

Adam stopped suddenly, the hand on her waist going to the edge of the bench as he leaned over her further, his other hand on the back of her neck grabbing for her hair that was still tied back to crane her head painfully to look up at him. “Repeat my words back at me again, and the next thing I break is your jaw,” he rumbled, though her eyes remained squeezed shut, and her mouth gaped now as he realized the position forced him deeper into her. Shoving her back down by the neck, he muttered as he picked up a brutal pace, “what got you here in the first place.” It only took a couple more convincing drives before she started letting go, her cries filling the air as she endured the assault. 

He should have been expecting it after the first time, knowing just how much it caught him off guard to hear the sounds she made – the gasps as she tried to replace the air he was pushing from her lungs, or the whines that escaped after a sharp thrust – start so distressed before turning into something so needy. He wasn’t though, so the first one almost sent him into a frenzy to get those pained sounds to come back, making him tighten his grip on the edge of the bench enough to feel it crumple in his grasp. Probably the only downfall of deciding to go with the meat that held a little more purpose to him than a joytoy; he didn’t necessarily want to break this one just yet. 

“There’s that voice of yours,” he goaded, already catching trace hints of feedback from his cyberware starting to stir throughout his systems. He debated dialing back the sensitivity until the look on her face convinced him otherwise, her brows furrowed in concentration as she focused on her end. 

Naturally she’d be chasing her own release as some kind of relief from the onslaught, so why did it irk him then when he noticed her hands down by her hips, arms straining as she gripped the edge of the bench? He eased some of the pressure on her neck and, for the second time, stopped his movements completely after mostly withdrawing from her. 

She didn’t expect it so it was plain to see when she attempted to pull herself back into the thrust that never came, the disappointment obvious in her sob until she too froze. 

His already fluctuating temps threatened to go on the rise as he straightened up behind her. “Don’t stop on my account,” he practically growled out, her flushed face growing redder by the second. 

After a moment of hesitation, she feebly pushed herself back and forth on his cock, pathetic little huffs leaving her now and then as he watched. He refused to believe this was actually why she brought it up again and not just to make a snide remark, though the rage he knew he should be feeling after playing into it couldn’t seem to overshadow the sheer disbelief at the idea that this was what she wanted. He continued to watch her as she used one hand against the bench as leverage for her movements, the other reaching under her probably to help herself along.

Well, he didn’t have to let her get _exactly_ what she was looking for. 

Adam waited until he picked up on the slight pitch changes of her pathetic mewls as she worked herself up before yanking both arms behind her back. Pinning them there with one hand, his other went back to the edge of the benchtop as he impaled her again, leaning over her to force himself deeper yet. Her face contorted painfully, her mouth agape in a silent scream that ended in a wheeze as she tried to pull in more air before he did it again and again until she bared her teeth to bite back the strangled cry that tried to escape after the third time. 

“This was what you wanted then?” he tormented, ramping back up to the unforgiving pace he set before. 

It may as well have been rhetorical as he wasn’t expecting her to be able to form a response, but somehow she managed a breathy “please...” in between his pounding thrusts and her whining and moaning. 

‘Please’ what? He couldn’t say that he cared at the moment, not when he felt his buildup returning, his systems going fuzzy in response to the feedback. Probably still hoping to find her own release with the way her expression softened just barely, but that wouldn’t happen if he had anything to say about it. 

Which, of course, he did.

He barely touched up the sensitivity, but it was enough to send him ramming her into the edge of the workbench another handful of times. Letting go of her arms, he resorted to punching a crater into the surface next to her before the current surged through him, causing his systems to stutter for just a moment as he drove into her a final time, pulling one last cry from her. 

A low groan rumbled from him, his internals taking a second to balance themselves while he observed her under him, eyes still squeezed shut as she worked to catch her breath. Most of the residual irritation he had with the whole situation slowly ebbed as everything leveled out, though he knew he couldn’t leave her thinking this was for any reason other than it’s what _he_ wanted. 

Wrenching his fist free from being embedded into the benchtop, he grabbed the back of her neck tight enough to have her eyes flying open in a panic. “As I’ve said before, you’re at my disposal... however I see fit.” 

She couldn’t do much to signal her acknowledgment with the hold he had on her, so he released her finally when her gaze just barely focused on him looming over her. He pulled out of her suddenly and straightened up, his cock retracting back behind its hidden panel as he stepped away. One last glance should hold him over for a while, he figured, before he turned away to leave the mech bay. If he was going to use her, he was going to use her for all she was worth. 

Sorting through the recent notices to come in while he was occupied showed some from his runner, inadvertently reminding him of the cameras he hadn’t bothered to check since he first deactivated them. They still scanned as offline, and he figured he could leave them for a little while longer while she pulled herself together, but that didn’t mean he had to warn her about security who was apparently currently stuck in the service elevator. She could deal with that. The runners hack allowed Adam to bypass the hold on the freight elevator, the alarm buzzing as the doors slid open for him to step on, his gaze falling down the line of workstations before they closed again to take him up to the AV garage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OHHHHHH BUDDY  
> First and foremost, the absolute biggest credit to DarkWolf101 again for the inspiration from their NSFW headcanons (seriously go check them out and send in some Smasher HC ideas if you have any https://trashlord2020.tumblr.com/post/638207655201079296/adam-smasher-cyberpunk-2077-18-a-z)  
> Also to Relinaru for hashing out the dick detes with us and having a good ole time ❤
> 
> I have definitely been enjoying writing Adam's pov more and more but I did *not* expect to be writing the good stuff in it just yet soooo here's to hoping it works 🙈


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh god guys I'm sorry for taking so long 😅 If you found me on Tumblr you know why
> 
> Also *shamelessly starting with a refresher of the last chapter* 😏

_Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck..._

The internal mantra fell in time with each thrust as he bottomed out in her, each one overfilling her and forcing another whine from her dry throat. She was so close though, almost having herself worked up to it before he yanked her arms away, her shoulders aching from how he had them pinned behind her back now. 

‘This was what you wanted then?’ he’d asked in a way that, paired with everything else he’s said to taunt her, told her he knew exactly why she threw those words back at him. 

Even after she’d spent all that time trying to convince herself otherwise, at that second she finally acknowledged that yes, this was what she wanted. At least until the next drive nearly crushed her against the edge of the benchtop, the several that followed leaving her gasping for air as it felt like he somehow managed to push deeper within her. It was all forced out when he plunged into her a final time in a cry that was equal parts pain and frustration. 

She could feel the groan he let out resonate through her as she lay there trying to catch her breath, the release she’d been chasing gone in an instant. _Again_. God if she weren’t so spent, she could’ve called him out for being the selfish prick he was and- 

The vice-like grip suddenly on her neck had panic rising like bile in her throat. She knew she didn’t say that aloud... 

“As I’ve said before, you’re at my disposal... however I see fit.” 

Yea, yea she felt that loud and clear, though she couldn’t do much to voice her response with the way his thumb was pressing up under her jaw. There was no turning her head either, but as her gaze barely found on him hovering over her he let go, withdrawing from her and leaving her to straighten herself out. 

Couldn’t say she didn’t ask for that. 

_Fucking stupid._

Slowly pushing off of the workbench, she ignored the jelly-like feeling of her legs as she eased herself to stand upright. Mourning the loss of her underwear when she pulled up her jumpsuit, she didn’t have a second to look for them when a faint light flicking on down at the end of the bay caught her attention. 

V could feel all the color drain from her face once she realized what it was; one of the indication arrows above the elevator showing it was on its way down. 

_Shit, fucking shit. Where the fuck-_

She used the bench for balance as she whipped around, spotting the tattered article in the middle of the lane just outside her station. Walking as fast as her legs could manage, she hobbled out to grab them off the floor, bending down with an exaggerated groan and just barely catching herself from falling forward. Pushing off the floor to straighten up, she shoved them into her pocket and stumbled back over to stand behind the bench just as the doors dinged. 

Her heart was back to racing as three guards - two of them heavily armed while one only wore the traditional suit - came stepping off the elevator, the reality of the situation hitting her ten-fold. Before they got close enough, she prayed to whoever would listen that her basic optics could pick up on the security cameras. Letting out a sigh of relief at the ‘status: offline’ indication, she didn’t have time to question how long they’d been down before the guards stopped just outside her workstation, the two heavies not really leveling their guns at her but definitely holding them at the ready. 

She got the scan alert as she raised her hands by her head, trying not to seem as unsteady as she felt. “I know I didn’t hit my overtime cap-” 

“State your designation,” the one in the suit spoke plainly as he stepped up to stand in front of her. 

“Isn’t that what the scan was for?” He didn’t seem amused, so she reluctantly continued. “Employee ID NC770416.” 

He didn’t necessarily relax, but his next question didn’t seem so burning. “Are you usually here after normal hours?” 

“No, just finished up a late entry,” she offered, slowly lowering her arms as she leaned her hip against the workbench. Her eyes drifted down briefly, taking notice of the giant dent for the first time, so she flicked her gaze back up to meet his and hoped he hadn’t seen it too. 

“What was the serial on it?” he questioned, no doubt to cross-reference it with her logs. 

“My supervisor should have all my logs uploaded.” She really didn’t want to ask, but she also didn’t want to stand here a play twenty questions while her legs felt more and more like they were going to give way on her. “What’s this about, exactly?” 

“He does,” he responded, ignoring her question at first, “and it seems you finished your last mech before five pm.” 

_Shit_. 

“I wasn’t working on a mech, I uh,” fuck her face was getting warm, “I do the repairs for Smasher. He came in just before five.” The two heavily armed guards looked at each other briefly and she could’ve broken out into a sweat right then. “His stuff gets logged differently but it should still be in there, though today's wouldn’t have been uploaded unfinished, so-” 

“So that leaves us no way to verify what you’ve been doing down here in the dark, what a shame.” 

She didn’t appreciate the condescending attitude, but she also tried not to react to his uh, phrasing. She knew what he meant though she had to refrain from showing it, so she kept her voice as steady as possible when she asked, “What are you talking about?” 

Seeming disinclined at first, he finally answered after a quick peek up at a nearby cam, “There was a blackout of the level, the cause is still being investigated.” 

“Isn’t that what the runners are for? How should I know, I was working,” she tried to sound stern, because she _was_ working, at least part of the time. 

“Yes well, again, it’s being looked into, but for now we’re still unable to verify your-” 

“If you really want your verification, he just left,” V said with finality, crossing her arms. “Might even be able to catch him up in one of the AV garages; I’m sure he wouldn't mind.” 

Maybe a weird bluff to try to get them to call but she watched as the suit stepped away, probably to do just that, leaving the two heavies trading another look. It didn’t take him long to get his answer before he returned to the spot in front of her. “Just missed him, apparently.” 

“Shame,” she mocked his earlier tone. “I’ll let my super know you’re expecting those logs in the morning then.” 

"Or you can come with us and wait in holding until we get them.” The snide smirk paired with how he said it suggested that’s exactly what she’d be doing. 

“Are you... worried I was trying to walk out of here with some scrap metal or something?” she tried, but that unamused look returned and she knew there was no getting out of it. 

Waiting until he turned away to roll her eyes, she followed after him with careful steps, the two heavies falling in line behind her. V used that opportunity to fling Hank a message that he better get his ass in early tomorrow to retrieve her. 

The holding area wasn’t _unpleasant_ , it was more of a room than a cell and at least it had a bench along the back wall she could lay on to attempt to get any sleep. Not that she really did, still a little flustered from the events prior to this shit show. It shouldn’t be a shock that that was him making her eat her words – well, his words – but it still was. Embarrassment ignited her skin again as she recalled him catching on, making her work herself up only to deny her again, but it soon returned to frustration at the fact she wasn’t even able to finish what was started now. 

She was in and out of it every couple of hours so she wasn’t exactly sleeping soundly when the door to her room opened, the suit from the night before standing at the threshold. “You’re cleared to go,” he said plainly, stepping to the side and waiting to guide her back out. 

Scrubbing her face to clear some of the grogginess, she stood with a groan at her still very aching legs, following him back out to the main area of the security sector where Hank was waiting with – bless him – an extra cup of coffee. 

“What the hell did you do?” he hissed as they approached the elevators. 

“I didn’t do shit,” she snapped back maybe not as quiet, grabbing the attention of a couple of guards that were around. Covering her mouth with the coffee cup, she took a few rushed sips of the still slightly too hot liquid as they stepped onto the elevator, waiting for the doors to shut to continue. “The cams apparently went dark sometime while I was working. They wanted to verify why I was still down there after hours, hence why they wanted those logs finished from last night.” 

Hank just shook his head. “Knew I should have stayed with you.” 

V had to hide her face with the cup again, taking a more careful sip this time. “No, probably not.” 

She stepped off at the first employee sublevel below the garage where she freshened up with a quick shower and her spare jumpsuit before punching in and heading down to the mech bay. Figures her first job involved some climbing, and she barely had enough time to get settled on top of it comfortably when Hank was bugging her again. 

“Yes, Hank?” she drawled over the holo, searching for the access panel she needed. 

“So, that dent I’m seeing from up here...” 

“What dent-” she started looking around the top of the mech, thinking there was something she missed when it clicked that he had a pretty clear view of her workbench. “Oh, that.” 

“Yea, _that_.” He let out a sigh. “Why do you insist on pissing him off?” 

She scrunched up her face at the accusation, however believable, as she stopped what she was doing to glare at him through the window of the Lookout. “I told him to let up on you; that getting a heads up of his arrivals was my idea,” she deflected. 

He immediately deflated and she hoped a small piece of him felt bad. “V...” 

“I’ll take your apology in the form of another coffee,” she quipped, cutting the feed and getting back to work. 

The rest of the week came and went, finding her and Jackie back at Lizzie’s after their little hiatus. Jackie was in a particularly good mood, recounting epic stories while also trying to sell her on this or that job. Going with him on that last one really got him digging for more opportunities and she couldn’t say she’d turn the right one down. 

Undoubtedly, she went along for the prospect of getting her multitool back sooner, though she had all intentions of paying back every enny. Any extra scratch would help so long as it wasn’t taking from his cut if he were to take on the job himself, right? 

“Gah, speaking of,” he paused, answering a call that must have been pretty urgent for him to respond with, “Cállate cabrón, not here...” Holding up a finger to tell her he’d be a moment, he stepped away from their corner and made his way to the front door. 

However weird, she shrugged it off and relaxed back against the booth, calling for another round as she finished the first one off. She’d finished that next one by the time the thought occurred that Jackie had been gone a while, so when the next person to step up to the booth wasn’t him but Felix instead, well, there was no stopping the disappointment from showing on her face. 

“Hey- uh, you ok?” he hesitated, leaning on what’s become his usual spot at the railing next to her. 

“Yea, sorry,” she took a second to fix her face, “was expecting someone else.” 

“Your friend’s outside on a call, passed him on my way in from grabbing a smoke.” 

“Right...” V paused, graciously accepting her next drink that one of the girls brought over. 

That seemed to catch his attention for some reason, though she realized a second later why when he nodded towards her hand. “Oh preem, you got your kit back.” 

She looked it over, reflexively clenching and unclenching her first. “Yea uh, a couple of weeks ago.” 

“Must’ve been different, getting used to working without it...” he mused. 

That’s when it seemed to hit her; that’s about the time he first started showing up at Lizzie’s, because he was the one who blurted out the detes for Jackie to hear. “Where is this coming from?” 

Felix seemed a bit taken aback. “What?” 

“This,” she gestured vaguely around him. “You hassle me at work, but is this you trying to make amends or what?” 

That put him off a little. “Hey, as someone who’s also been on the receiving end of Smasher’s abuse, I figured I-” V almost spat out her drink, sputtering to catch her breath at the double entendre Felix didn’t realize his words held. “You uh, alright?” 

“Fine, fine...” she heaved a couple more coughs, clearing her throat and taking a deep breath to recompose herself. “I appreciate that, _really,_ ” she took a proper drink this time before being able to face him. “Sorry. Yes, it definitely sucked working without it but... I mean, it was an implant; easy to replace. I don’t think I went through anything near what you did in losing something ‘ganic so I can’t really say I’m that... bent outta shape about it?” She tried to sound sincere, she really did, being unable to imagine the pain that came with having the bones in your arm absolutely splintered. 

He nodded at that, “Yea, I can get that. You’re right, it’s not something you’d really be able to shake off.” 

Jackie finally made his return then, approaching the booth in defensive mode. “Sorry ‘bout that V,” he eyed Felix as he took his seat, then her. “We all good?” 

“Yea, great, I was just... going to see if Felix would let me get him another drink,” she offered with an apologetic smile. 

He returned it but waved her off. “Nah, I was actually getting ready to head out, appreciate that though. I’ll see ya Monday.” 

She was reluctant to admit that one made her feel _a little_ bad. Maybe it was the aftermath of the shit that happened with Masato that left her with a bad taste in her mouth, not wanting to hand out her trust so willingly. Shaking it off with the rest of her drink, she was glad Jackie’s good mood was back after dealing with his call, letting him take her mind off things and closing their night on a high note. 

* * *

Adam debriefed two other members of the squad for the upcoming op, finishing up the call on the holo before stepping out of the AV. He didn’t care for having to rely on others to do their part in order for him to be able to do his, though he realized it was necessary for the more _involved_ jobs. As long as he was the one getting his hands dirty and anyone else stayed out of his way, he could tolerate it. 

Speaking of... 

His last side op had gotten particularly messy; evidence of that splattered up his arms, mostly. He could take care of that himself as he usually did; his main quarters were well into the deeper sublevels of the tower, undisclosed to anyone but a handful outside of the Arasaka’s themselves. That would far bypass the mech bay, however, and there actually were some maintenance alerts he needed taken care of. It’d been a while since he made the girl to the dirty work anyway. 

A mech was departing as he neared her area, and she wasn’t shy about making her displeasure known, arms crossing as she matched his stare once she’d seen the condition he was in. She was already walking off, presumably to get whatever she needed, by the time he stepped into her station and turned around. His gaze fell on the bench then, still in the sorry state he’d left it. Part of him found that amusing for some reason. 

He brushed it off as she returned, catching where he was looking before averting her own stare. “Should probably get that replaced,” he stated matter-of-factly. 

“Yea, so they can take a chunk of it out of my paycheck?” she set down the bucket and dunked the first rag, “Can’t really claim it as an accident if there’s no feed to prove it.” 

Her tone was more curious than accusatory, but that didn’t stop him from looking down at her. “I’m sure they could find it if they dug deep enough.” If his runner had taken care of the feed like he said he did, they wouldn’t, but that somehow made the mortified expression that flashed across her face for a split second all the more enjoyable. 

Recovering quickly, she removed the casings around his arm launcher to clean out the mess that seeped underneath. “It’s not the biggest inconvenience I’ve had to work around...” Her eyes flickered up to him briefly, though Adam shrugged off the pathetic jab as she continued to work, getting frustrated with trying to clean out the small spaces of the joints in his fingers before letting out a huff. “Could you make a fist or something, please?” 

He waited, holding off until she looked up at him again in exasperation before he obliged, noting how quick she was to challenge him after last week compared to when she wouldn’t meet his stare until he goaded her enough. The only thing that look of hers was missing was the faintest hint of fear it usually held, the slightest bit of apprehension that he’d call her bluff. He must’ve actually knocked something loose when he first bounced her head off the workbench all that time ago if she really just wanted another fuck from him. Hell, he’d have no issue using her as a joytoy whenever the urge arose if she was going to offer herself up so willingly. He could still make her regret it, return that spark of fear to her eyes whenever she needed reminding. 

Adam watched as she finished up his other arm, replacing the plates that were still sound and moving on to other parts of him, taking pieces away while talking herself through whatever she was doing. The rest of the tweaks and repairs didn’t take long. She had them done by the time the new plates arrived, getting them secured quickly then wiped down. 

“All set,” she nodded, turning from him to tend to the mess of his old parts strewn over the benchtop. He would have left her quietly had she kept her mouth shut, but he didn’t miss the cheeky “You’re welcome” she threw over her shoulder as he made to leave the area. 

Stopping at the edge of her station, he half-turned back to face her. “Think you’re the one who should be thanking me,” he mulled over. 

That made her pause for just a second before she faced him fully. “Why would I-” 

He cocked his head, figuring he’d give her a second to think it over before he reminded her loud enough for everyone in earshot when her face suddenly flushed. 

The disbelief was plain to see as her gaze shifted around the room until it settled on him again. “Thank you for leaving me hanging, _again_?” she scoffed, keeping her voice low. 

“Thought you were supposed to be good with your hands,” he offered plainly. 

Her mouth gaped, snapping shut almost immediately as she tried to get her reply straight. “I’m... No, _you’re_ the one who-” 

Though he admittedly found her frustration amusing, how she obviously wanted to lash out but didn’t want to draw attention, he had other things to tend to. “Guess you’ll have to try harder next time,” he cut her short, catching the dumbstruck look on her face before he finally made his departure. 

Whenever the hell that would be. 


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all! Thanks for coming back to give this a read ❤❤❤

She probably spent a little too much time trying to wrap her head around Smasher’s parting words, an operator already having the mech she’d prematurely sent off back in her station waiting to be finished. V had some time to more or less process things after their last... encounter, leaving her at war with her own morality over the past week. 

She couldn’t bring herself to call what happened the first time in the storage room for what it was simply because it made her feel even more fucked up in the head for her subsequent feelings. They were wrong and she was wrong for caving and entertaining the thoughts at all, giving them a foundation to take root and grow into the problem she found herself in now. Though, she certainly didn’t find it problematic while being pounded into the workbench. 

Her glare slowly shifted over her shoulder to the surface in question. 

_You asked for it. Literally. May as well have been word for word._

She was aware of that; it didn’t matter how unintentional. Still, she figured that his _punishment_ was a one-off, and for the sake of her sanity she knew that should be a good thing. He could come up with other ways to make her regret the shit that comes out of her mouth, of that she was absolutely sure, the threat to her jaw popping into mind. Even having herself convinced of that, how did he so easily have her tossing her morality out the window with less than five words? 

_Next_ time? There was going to be a _next time_? 

_That you’re going to have to work harder for, don’t_ _forget_ _that._

Of course. How could she? Though, that set off a whole new tangent, aggravation setting in as she scrubbed her hands down her face. She needed to focus; get back to work.

V finally regarded the mech in front of her, picking up where she left off in its repairs before Hank got on her ass. It didn’t do much in the way of righting her train of thought, her mind reeling causing her to work at a slower pace as she continued to argue with herself. The rest of the shift dragged on to a close and she wound up leaving herself backed up the following day. She was tempted to work through lunch until her stomach made its protests heard, so she prayed she wasn’t going to regret the burrito from the SCSM in the break room as she hopped up to sit on her workbench. Hoping she could finish it quickly and return to the task at hand, she managed to get half of it scarfed down before Elliot stepped into her workstation, his own vending machine burrito in hand. 

“As a last resort, I never thought they were _that_ good.” He quirked an eyebrow, eyeing her as she hurriedly chewed and swallowed what she had in her mouth. 

“Oh, you know, just eager to get back to work,” V droned sarcastically, giving a quick half-smile. 

Seeing her bullshit for what it was, he nodded towards the mech in her station. “If you need, I can take one off your hands for the day. Help lighten the load.” 

She waved him off. “It’s no biggie, should be caught up after today.” 

They both took a bite of their burritos, Elliot taking a little extra time to chew as it looked like he was mulling something over. “I almost worried I was going to have to work on him yesterday. Was sure I had the only station open.” 

Obviously, he didn’t need to specify who. V knew the last time he had to work on Smasher was because she basically offered him up as a sacrifice, leaving her unable to ignore the barest twinge of guilt. “Couldn’t do that to you _again,_ ” she half-joked.

“Almost...” he continued like he hadn’t heard her, “even though I’ve noticed in my couple months back, you’ve been the only one he goes to. Even if that means sending an unfinished mech to holding.” 

She finished off her burrito with a final large bite and nodded along as she chewed, noting he genuinely sounded sorry about that. “Yup, so no more worries.” 

He thought for another moment and she stayed sat upon the bench, no longer in a hurry to get back to work. “That time you worked on him, right before I got the boot. That was your first time, right?” 

V nodded again, feeling a little weird when she remembered what it was like. Sure, she didn’t act much different; she liked to think she wasn’t as terrified of him as she was at the start, but maybe she just got better at concealing it. Didn’t think she’d be in the situation she was currently faced with, that’s for damn sure. 

“Must’ve made quite the impression,” Elliot finally said after taking another bite. 

She would’ve scoffed had someone else not spoken up. “That’s what happens when you’re too good at your job.” 

They both turned to see Felix walking by her area, either getting a late start to lunch or coming back early since it looked like he was returning from the Lookout with new logs. He didn’t bother stopping, though he did flash her a smirk as he passed. 

Returning a brief smile, it fell short as she returned her attention to the mech knowing it needed to be finished soon if there was any hope of actually getting caught up before the end of the day. 

“That why he dropped you?” Elliot questioned flatly, though Felix had already gotten far enough down the line that he wouldn’t have heard it. 

V was stunned silent for a moment as she hopped down off the benchtop, not really expecting that to come from Elliot who was usually pretty reserved. “Well, tell me how you really feel.” 

He just shrugged. “Sorry. Guess I’ve been stuck next to him for too long.” 

“How long before I started?” she asked, knowing they’d been in neighboring workstations since she was hired. 

Taking the time to calibrate her multitool while he seemed to think, V got started on the joint she left off on. “Just under a year, I think.” 

She hesitated, mentally counting the number of times she’s worked on Smasher herself. Also taking into account that his visits then weren’t as frequent as they were now – an observation to ponder another day – that seemed like a pretty short span of time to go from Smasher’s go-to to... not. 

V winced at the thought, fighting the urge to clench and release her left hand as she worked at another bolt around the mech’s knee joint. “So, you were around then, when...” 

“Yea, but I didn’t catch much of it other than the horrendous scream.” 

He said it so nonchalantly he almost sounded bored, though she figured he had plenty of people coming to him to recount the story for however long afterward. Curiosity had been slowly eating at her since Felix first told her about what happened, and she realized the only way she would find out exactly why it did was by sucking it up and asking him herself. At one point she actually considered asking Smasher, though at the time she feared he’d just do the same to her. 

_Well, that ship’s kind of sailed already._

Elliot hung around while he finished his lunch, mostly sitting back to watch her work and occasionally striking up small talk before heading back to his station when the hour was up. Not that she minded, she never really minded him at all before. He always seemed like the kind of guy who got along with everyone, but taking into account what she saw of Felix’s personality normally, it wasn’t a mystery why Elliot wouldn’t care for him.

Felix’s personality... that made her question her own feelings towards him and this newfound ‘friendship’. Does it make sense that someone would try to be empathetic towards another who’s faced a similar, scarring situation? Sure. Did it make sense that Felix was that person? Questionable, though maybe not outside the realm of possibility. Either way, she was dying to know exactly what he did to piss Smasher off enough to drop him, so maybe she could go along with it for now. 

Besides, she had the perfect opportunity to bring it up casually. 

That weekend, V and Jackie were in their normal spot now throwing back their third rounds as he was trying to entice her with the prospect of another job. “It’s simple but not nearly as boring as the last one, I swear!” 

“Uh-huh...” she drawled, trying to be subtle as she peered over towards the front door again. Figures, the one time she was actually looking for him to show it didn’t look like he was going to. 

“You got somewhere else to be or am I boring you?” Jackie teased, waving over for another round. 

“No, no.” She straightened up to turn fully towards him, refraining from heaving a sigh. “Tell me about it. The job.” 

That put a broad smile on his face as he leaned his elbows onto the table like he was ready to dig in. “All we gotta do... is get a car.” 

V waited for a second, inclining her head slightly as she wondered what would come next. “... And?” 

“That’s it!” He slapped the table excitedly, “Snatch it up from a garage and drop it off to its owner. Simple, like I said. Perfect for your second training gig.” 

Not that she didn’t think Jackie considered the details of these smaller jobs, but maybe he didn’t ask all the right questions. Or, didn’t think she would. “If it’s that easy, why can’t they just go pick up their own car?” 

Their drinks arrived, Jackie passing over hers before taking his. “They uh, might not be on the best terms with the people who run the garage.” 

“And who would that be?” she questioned over the rim of her glass. 

He hesitated a second before halfway raising his glass towards her. “... The Sixth?” 

Staring at him blankly for a couple of seconds, she wondered if it’d be wrong of her to condemn him as a friend because of the Valentino’s proximity and resulting rivalry with the Sixth Street gang. “Of course.” 

“Come on chica,” he almost sounded exhausted as he set his drink down on the table. “It’s been how long now? I’m not telling you to get over it, but I don’t think all of Sixth has it out for you.” 

She knew where he was coming from, and he was right even if not for the same reason. Bryce was the only connection a lot of them that were there that day had to her, so with him dead and gone she was nothing to them. 

“You’re right, you’re right,” she finally said, raising her glass in a truce. 

Jackie grabbed his again. “That mean I get to tell Padre you’re in?” 

Letting out a long sigh, V caved. “When?” 

He could have cracked both of their glasses with how enthusiastically he clashed them together, drinking his down before answering. “I think the guy’s still gotta get the eddies together, but I’ll let Padre know who to call.” 

V finished off her drink, already trying to mentally prepare for whatever the hell she just got herself into. 

* * *

Though Adam’s body was more than capable of going non-stop for as long as he’d want, the one very organic piece left of him housed in his metal skull still required a recovery period. He used the downtime during the system scrubs and thorough diagnostic checks he underwent every week or so, allowing himself to remain jacked in to the specialized station in his quarters with his systems at minimum functionality. 

His optics refocused, the reboot alerts fading as the diagnostics showed the data scrub was complete and everything returned to normal operating capacity. He sorted through a couple of notices he'd received while in his dormant state; unnecessary job details, intel confirmations, the usual. None of which flagged as urgent or the terminal would have immediately notified him and ceased its program. 

Decade’s worth of repetition had him reaching behind his head with deft precision to unhook the main cable that came from the station, going through the rest of the findings as he stepped away from the device. With everything coming up clear and no pressing matters to tend to for the rest of the afternoon, he eyed an unassuming container perched on the heavy metal desk at the opposite end of the room. It was a small upgrade, nothing pressing, but since time permitted, he couldn’t think of a reason to put it off. Besides, it could make his next job just a bit more enjoyable. 

His hand dwarfed the size of the box as he retrieved it before exiting his quarters, maneuvering through the maze of the lowest levels of the main tower and taking the freight elevator up to the mech bay. It was mostly quiet save for a few stragglers rushing to finish their tasks so they could scuttle off to take their breaks, and at first he thought the girl was doing the same since her station was still occupied. That was until he drew nearer and saw she was already taking her break; sat atop the mech and stuffing her face with whatever the hell that was. 

She regarded him for a second – her gaze meeting his before she took a final bite – as he stopped in front of the mech. “Never took you for one who’d stop in on a social call.” 

In all his years of having to go through reboots and system scrubs, Adam usually denied that he experienced the same _refreshed_ feeling most meatbags would have after a night of rest. That was before he started dealing with this insufferable cunt; then he became fully aware of just how much more tolerating he was after the routine. 

Not dignifying the remark with a response, he waited for her to get her shit together and slide off the top of the minotaur, hitting the floor with a soft thud. She dropped everything onto the workbench before eyeing him up again, undoubtedly double-checking her scans that were coming up with nothing. The curiosity was evident on her face when she finally noticed the box in his hand, abandoning the rest of the scan as he moved past her to set it on the bench. She didn’t bother asking, already stepping around him to dig in while he waited for someone to get the mech out of the way. 

She had the box torn open in seconds, eagerly weighing the receiver between her hands when she faced him again. “Which one?” 

“You going to move that fucking thing first?” he questioned. 

“Me? No, can’t,” she answered simply with a shake of her head, “and the operators already left for lunch. You don’t need that much space for this anyway.” 

Holding up the small piece in her hand, he stared her down as he felt that minuscule amount of tolerance slipping. Without a word, he barely offered his right arm, turning it over to give her access to the underside. She must’ve been itching to work on something that wasn’t just the usual repair job with the way she wasted no time in removing the casing, depositing the pieces to sit neatly in the dent that still blemished the surface of the workbench. Whatever kept her quiet, though he knew better that it wouldn’t last. 

Adam was going over intel sometime later, and she had the weapon disassembled and was working on swapping the modified barrel onto the new receiver when she spoke up. “So, I have a question...” When he didn’t respond, she waited a couple beats before continuing, “Why’d you stop going to Felix?” 

“Willing to try your luck?” 

The exasperation was clear in her response. “I was just wondering what he did to make you crush his arm.” 

He cleared out of the data scan, his optics coming into focus to find her shifting her gaze as she worked to assemble the new components. “Asking stupid questions.” 

She pursed her lips to the side, seemingly taking the hint and finishing her task in silence. He did find himself trying to recount the event then, though he wasn’t remembering the trivial details. The meat probably pissed him off again, just for the last time; why he was still breathing was anyone’s guess. 

_Speaking of._

They all slowly started to file in as she was finishing up, most of them walking by with their eyes averted except that one she mentioned, periodically looking over as he made his way to the center room. Adam made sure he knew he was watching, turning his head slightly as he followed him with his glare until the girl caught his attention. 

“Should be all set,” she straightened up, grabbing the rag from off her bench. “One of the pins was a snug fit. Shouldn’t interfere with anything and it’ll probably work itself out, but may want to test fire first.” 

“No shit,” he practically growled when he made to leave the area. Did he look like this was his first upgrade? Like he didn’t know to test his weapons after having them worked on? 

She shifted behind him. “I was just letting you know in case-” 

“In case you fucked it up?” he questioned low, turning to face her fully to find she was doing the same. “Oh, you’d know.” 

Her arms crossed at him questioning her ability. “In case it doesn’t cycle,” she countered, her pride holding her stare steady. 

That could be rectified. 

He’d already planned on visiting the testing range that was another couple of levels down, but if she insisted... A quick jerk of his arm had the casing splitting, the plates on the top and underside of his forearm pulling back to give the barrels underneath clearance. He brought his arm up, his aim going well over her shoulder, maybe off to the side a little more before shooting a short burst. Flinching away, she brought a hand up to shield the left side of her face from the muzzle flash as the bullets escaped the end of the barrel and embedded themselves into the back wall. The meatbags in the immediate area cowered to the floor as the rest of them whipped around to see the commotion, a couple of the supervisors scurrying down from their little perch. 

Satisfied enough with the feel of the new action working, Adam lowered his arm. "Cycles fine."

He watched with mild amusement as she regarded him cautiously at first, hesitant before dropping her hand and straightening up. "You couldn't have dry-fired?!" she hollered weakly, disbelief settling on her features after shaking off the initial shock.

“No,” he answered simply, twitching his arm again so the plates slid back into place to cover the barrels. 

Turning to actually take his leave this time, anyone that had gathered outside her workstation quickly made themselves scarce save for the one supervisor. Adam looked down at him with disdain before making his way to the lift, still intent on tearing through a few hundred rounds in the testing range. 


	16. Chapter 16

Hank approached her after Smasher made his departure, looking about as terrified as she should probably feel. “Christ V, you okay?” 

“I’m fine,” she grumbled, trying to work out the ringing in her one ear. “You really think he can’t dry-fire? He’s gotta have some control over the-” 

“For fuck’s sake.” He scrubbed a hand down his face and took a deep breath. “I looked away for two seconds and then heard _that_...” 

She followed his gaze over her shoulder. Smasher had only fired four shots, all of them threaded between the railings of the catwalk to create a tight grouping in the back wall, the large bullets warping the metal around their impact points. 

Looking back at Hank, she took in his worried expression. “Hank, I’m okay. Sorry for the scare,” she reassured, sounding relatively calm with her heart thudding away in her chest. 

He hesitated before nodding, then slowly shook his head as he turned to make his way back up to the Lookout. 

It was V’s turn to take a deep breath, but instead of getting back to work on the minotaur she went to the back of her station, slightly ducking under the catwalk to get to the space between it and the wall. It was a bit of a reach and she wasn’t exactly sure why she was all that curious, but it didn’t stop her from prying the lowest bullet from the wall to examine it as she returned to her bench. It had to be a hollow point with the way the tip split and curled back, though it looked specially made; she shouldn’t have expected anything less but it still made her wince at the thought of being hit with one of them. It landed with a soft _tink_ as she dropped it into the dent before finally getting back to work on her mech. 

The rest of the week came and went, and Friday afternoon had rolled around when V got her third message from Jackie. 

_‘We’re a go for today!’_

_‘You still in, right_ _chica_ _?’_

_‘_ _Hellooooooo_ _?’_

She’d been swamped all morning and figured she’d just message him back when she got a chance to take her break, but then his holo call came in and thankfully she was turned away from the Lookout. “ _What?!_ ” she answered in a harsh whisper. 

“Aye hermana, I’m just making sure you’re still meeting me for this job,” he replied calmly. 

After a couple more attempts on a stripped bolt, V went fishing through the cabinets under her workbench. “Couldn’t have waited for a response?” 

“You were taking too long,” he shrugged. “Thought you got cold feet.” 

“Been _a bit_ busy,” she downplayed, finding what she needed and going back to the mech. “When are we doing this thing?” 

Rubbing his chin in thought, he finally offered, “Ditch on your break; let’s get it over with while we still have daylight to burn.” 

V scoffed. “Not one of your best ideas, Jack.” 

“And why not?” he questioned in mock offense. 

“The last thing I need is for Smasher to decide to come in while I'm not here.” She eyed the back wall briefly – still decorated with bullets – before switching on the torch and heating up the bolt. 

Jackie tried to speak up over the noise. “Well, when’s the last time he came in?” 

"I mean, not that long ago, but-” 

“See, you’re in the clear then!” he exclaimed excitedly. 

She just shook her head. “You never know with him; he comes in whenever he decides. Not sure you wanna be in the immediate area when he hunts me down...” she tried to caution.

“Pffft, you really think he’d come after you for that?” 

Cutting off the heat to the bolt, she remained silent while she waited for it to cool down, trying not to recall the last time that was the case. “I’ll just work through lunch and see if I can get out an hour early,” she finally compromised. There was a lesser chance of him coming in for another late visit, right? 

“Aright, chica,” Jackie sighed. “Call me then.” 

So that’s what she did, though of course not without grabbing a burrito from the SCSM to hold her over, eating while she worked. Elliot came over with his own again, half-sitting on the workbench as he watched her work, striking up small talk here and there. 

He was quiet for a while and V was almost finished with her mech when he spoke up again. “Almost looks like a flower,” he mused. 

Her face scrunched in confusion and she glanced over her shoulder, though she didn’t need to ask what the hell he was talking about as she saw him holding the spent bullet up to his face. “Oh, yea, I guess it kind of does.” 

“Definitely _not_ jealous for not being anywhere near that,” he grimaced, dropping it back into the dent. 

Elliot found his way back to his workstation when the hour ended and V got a new mech into hers as soon as the operators were back. Working through lunch kept her on track to finishing early anyway, so she ran up to the Lookout about an hour before quitting time. 

“Hank,” she started, approaching to lean against his desk. 

“V. What can I do for you?” he asked suspiciously. 

“Done for the day, can I split?” 

He tilted his head in thought. “You sure that’s a good idea?” 

Shrugging her shoulders with a huff, she shook her head. “I think my odds are good, but am I sure...?” 

Lacing his fingers together, he brought his hands up to rest on the top of his head as he considered it. “I don’t want you storming up here pissed at me when-” 

“Sounds good, thanks Hank!” she called out, already pushing away from the desk and missing the resigned shake of his head as she threw the door open and left the lookout. 

V holo’d Jackie while she was on her way out of the main tower and he’d made it to her apartment around the same time she did, giving her just enough time to change, holster her pistol to her waistband, and run back down to the parking garage. 

She found him leaning against his Arch, arms out wide with a smile almost as broad. “Ready chica?” 

His smile was practically infectious and she couldn’t hold back her smirk. “I think so. Run me through it again?” 

“On the way, let’s go,” he waved her to come on as he got on the bike. 

V climbed onto the back and Jackie linked their comms so he could explain on the way, bobbing and weaving through traffic as he drove them to The Glen. Upload a virus that would give them access to the car and drive it out of there was definitely the condensed version, but she knew to expect there’d be plenty of Sixth to get around. Padre didn’t seem to have a preference for how this went, so Jackie said they could wait until they surveyed the area before deciding if it could be done quietly. 

They rounded the corner in front of the Wicked Tires Autoshop, Jackie driving a little further down the block before pulling over. “And you wanted to do this earlier?” V sounded doubtful; even this early in the evening, there were plenty of gang members still milling about. 

“Yea, that way we’d have plenty of time to celebrate a job well done at Lizzie’s later,” he said confidently. “Come on, let’s take a peek around.” 

She walked alongside Jackie a little further up the sidewalk, getting a better look at where everyone was situated around the building; two at the far end in the corner, one out front, and another one that seemed to walk the side and back alley. 

“I don’t know,” he started hesitantly as they walked back towards the bike. “Might just have to start taking ‘em out.” 

They still weren’t sure how many could be inside, and with what some of them were packing she wasn’t feeling the most confident with just a pistol. “Wait, what about back there?” she nodded towards the concrete wall that ran along the backside of the shop. 

Before he could ask, V walked towards the end of the block and around the corner where a set of stairs led up to the road that ran behind the building. Walking up to the divider that looked easily climbable, she turned to face Jackie who quickly caught on. “Ah, I like your thinking hermana!” 

Letting him climb up first so she could follow his lead, they carefully crouched their way closer to the shop yard. Spotting the guy patrolling the alleyway, Jackie waited until he got a little further away before motioning for her to hold while he jumped down. V watched as he crept up behind the poor gonk, knocking him out with the butt of his pistol and hiding his unconscious body next to one of the nearby dumpsters. 

Sliding down off the wall then, she followed him to the backdoor where he peeked through for a second before turning to her. “Okay, there’s only a couple on the main floor that should be easy to get around, just stay close.” 

V nodded and Jackie peeked through the door once more. After a couple of seconds, it sounded like one of the car lifts turned on, averting the gang member's attention long enough for them to sneak in along the back wall. The car they needed was there alright, but they had to get upstairs into the office and upload the soft that would let them into the damn thing first. They were almost to the stairs when Jackie held out a hand to stop her. Barely peeking around his shoulder, she spotted another member in the corner by the foot of the stairs. She was tinkering with something on the table when the radio to her left started sputtering, grabbing her attention. That’s when V felt Jackie's grip on her arm, ushering her forward and up the stairs while he trailed behind, making sure the girl’s focus remained elsewhere. 

She was almost to the top when she froze; there was another member standing in front of the door to the office, his back to the stairs. She didn’t like this, being stuck between the two gang members, and she felt the urgency from Jackie as he inched closer up the stairs. That sense of urgency skyrocketed as the guy seemed to finish up whatever he was doing, and V knew she needed to act before he turned and saw them. Quickly coming up behind him, she wrapped her right arm around his throat, the different pieces of her gorilla arm expanding as she exerted as much force as possible to cut off his airway. He didn’t struggle for long, his body soon falling limp against her, and she tucked him away in the far corner as Jackie went to upload the virus. 

He reemerged a couple seconds later, smiling and all. “Alright chica, let’s get outta here,” he whispered. “I need you to wait with the car, I’m going back for my bike. Once I give the signal, get in and haul ass to the drop-off point. I’ll be right behind you.” 

Adrenaline rush in full swing, she managed a nod before following him back down the stairs. Jackie dispatched the girl this time that way V's back would be clear while she waited with the vehicle, but it was still probably the longest two minutes of her life. She began wondering what the signal was even supposed to be - if he would just call her or what - until a shot rang from outside. The yelling started, followed by returning potshots, and the two remaining members in the garage ran outside. 

That had to be it. 

Without waiting another second, she jumped into the car and was thankful that she could remotely activate the garage door even with her basic cyberdeck, opening it as she fired up the engine. She mashed the pedal to the floor, peeling out of the auto shop and only glancing into the rearview to make sure Jackie was behind her. Breathing a sigh of relief when she saw him, she took another deep breath to steady her pounding heart as they drove to the drop-off point. 

It was an uncomfortably short drive from where they’d just stolen the damn thing from, but from what she gathered when Jackie spoke with the client, he wouldn’t be sticking around for long. Definitely a good idea, knowing Sixth was so close and would be looking around for the car. 

Jackie approached her by his Arch after settling up with Padre. “Good stuff hermana, let's go unwind.” Giving her a rough pat on the shoulder, he got onto the bike and waited for her to climb on before driving them to Lizzie’s. 

V got her first two rounds as soon as they walked in the door, throwing back the first one before they even made it to the booth. Jackie was ecstatic with her second successful run, utterly convinced she was ready for something tougher. 

“The way you made your decision and acted like that,” he snapped his fingers for emphasis, talking about how she’d dealt with the guy at the top of the stairs. “You got the instincts.” 

“After I froze,” she added, less enthused. 

He waved it off as they finished their second round. “You’ll work that out like it’s nothing.” 

Jackie proceeded to ramble off a bunch of stories from when he first started running with the Valentino’s, how he used to freeze up until it turned into him being too reckless before he finally settled down, and she had to admit it made her feel a bit better. Though, she found it hard to believe she’d ever hit that reckless stage; she was only doing this to repay him after all, it wouldn’t last forever. 

Finally beginning to relax after a while, they both must’ve gotten a little too invested in his stories as they were caught by surprise when Felix popped up by the railing, drink in hand. “Hey V.” 

Jackie’s laugh died down and V shot him a look that he hopefully understood as ‘be cool’ before turning to Felix with a small smile. “Hey. How’s it going?” 

He seemed to loosen up at her welcoming. “Can’t complain. How's the rest of _your_ week been, after... ?” 

His words trailed off when she frantically shook her head, but Jackie was quick to speak up. “That’s ok, I’m sure I don’t need to hear about it.” He stood with an exaggerated groan, giving her a quick pat on the back. “Don’t need me telling you the same shit over again. You guys talk, I need to take a leak anyway.” 

V pressed her lips into a thin line, watching Jackie take his leave before looking back to Felix. “You really like bringing up my mishaps with Smasher, huh?” 

“Sorry,” he offered with a weak shrug. “Just wanted to make sure you were good, didn’t realize your choom had an issue with that.” 

“He uh, has his opinions about me putting up with him,” she sighed, twisting her glass in her hand. 

Felix saw it and waved over for another round. “Wish I would’ve had someone telling me what a bad idea it was along the way.” 

“Doesn’t do any good if your only way out is quitting... or getting bones shattered,” she half-joked, though she was thankful he laughed it off. 

Grabbing their drinks when they arrived, Felix passed hers over the railing and took a sip of his own. “Yea, I ah, don’t recommend the latter.” 

She felt the need to ask so it didn’t seem like she’d been snooping already; plus, he was practically reeling her in. “How long did you work on him?” 

Nodding his head side to side in thought, he took another sip before replying, “A couple of months after I started, so... eight months? That’s when I told him I was done.” 

V couldn’t stop her eyes from widening in shock. “ _You_ told _him_ you were done?” 

“No, absolutely not,” he scoffed. “Could you imagine?” 

“I could imagine that being what made him relieve you of your arm,” she commented over the rim of her glass before taking a sip. Felix just shook his head, staring down into his drink as she tried to prod him with a look. He was really going to make her ask. “So then... what did?” 

"What made him crush your multitool?" he countered.

She shrugged, not thinking of it as something worth hiding. "I think that was when he came in with the severed line to his voice synth. It was either me goading him to talk when he couldn't, or messing up and not feeding the clamp over the sleeve first before I reconnected everything, and then he thought I was going to unplug it..." She eventually had to stop as she caught herself rambling.

Felix looked like he had a lot of questions that he was trying to sort through. "Wait, so, just the voice line? He's got a few other cables running alongside that, vital ones I'm guessing." 

The slightest inflection made it seem like he was asking rather than just making an observation. "Well, yea, probably. But yea, it was just the voice line."

"And you could just... unplug it?" 

"I mean, it wasn't just a simple plug but yea, basically." She nodded along slowly, though she figured if he didn't work on Smasher for that long then he might not know all the ins and outs of his systems.

He took another drink, seemingly considering his next words before settling on something else with a chuckle. " _And_ you were trying to provoke him? What made you think that was a good idea?"

"Probably the same thing that made you think whatever led to that was a good idea," she quipped, nodding to his left hand. "Which you still haven't given an answer for, and I answered more of your questions, so..."

His short laugh faded into a sigh. “Ah, a story for another time maybe.” V refrained from letting out a frustrated groan and Jackie made his return to the booth. “Well, I won’t interfere with the rest of your night.” 

After a parting tilt of his glass, he polished off the rest of his drink before turning to exit, leaving Jackie shooting her a weary look. “Fun convo?” 

“Just a failed attempt at being nosey,” was all she offered before throwing back her own glass. 

V stopped into her station first thing Monday morning, getting her bench straightened up before the first minotaur arrived when she noticed the bullet she pulled from the wall wasn’t sitting in the dent where she’d left it Friday afternoon. Sorting through some pieces to make sure it didn’t get bumped around, she almost felt silly for worrying about it until a quick peek at the back wall showed the other bullets had been removed too. Normally no one messed with their stations; they were all responsible for tidying up at the end of the day and making sure the scrap made it into the bins, and even that disposal system was automated. 

Making her way up to the Lookout for new logs, she waited near Hank’s desk until the others had walked away. “Hey, did you have someone clean up the... mess in my area?” 

He quirked an eyebrow at her as he turned in his chair. “Why would- no, I hadn’t called for anything like that.” 

Looking down at her workstation, she tried to recall details from Friday aside from the job. “Was anyone in my station after I left early?” 

“Not that remember. Why, what’s the big deal?” 

She tried not to get defensive at his scrutinizing. “Nothing, I just don’t want people fucking with my setup.” 

“Well, was anything missing or obviously messed with?” he asked more impassively. 

“Never mind, it’s nothing,” she brushed off, taking her logs with her as she left the Lookout. 

She didn’t need to worry about it, it really was nothing. Could have been another supervisor, or even someone higher up, that didn’t think bullets made for a nice decoration on the otherwise pristine walls. Shrugging it off, V stepped to the side as the first mech was escorted into her station, ready to get the day rolling. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Felt weird leaving out Adam's pov in this one 😩 wonder what he's up to...


End file.
